Knights of Mithril
by WriteShop
Summary: Sequel to Night of the Kings Knight (though it will make sense even if you don't read that). ten years have passed since Shirou returned from Arthurian times. He uses what he learned to avoid becoming Archer, while still saving people. After all, there is more than one way to be a Hero of Justice. Slight x-over with Full Metal Panic.
1. Chapter 1

Please be aware – I will be putting Full Metal Panic canon into the blender and pureeing it, so don't expect to the parts to fir together right.

"Talking"

_'Thinking'_

START

"They are somewhere here" The nervous looking man pointed to a jumble of buildings in the downtown area. Hecht-on-Rhine was a decaying industrial city, whose only claim to fame (or to anything, really) was a picturesque forest on its border, making it a popular jumping off point for hikers.

Apparently, it was a jumping off point for some other sort of visitors as well.

"You don't know exactly where they are?" Rin asked in exasperation. She had quickly formed an opinion of Vasiliy Zaytsev, the 'Second Owner' of the area as a spineless dweeb who did everything half ass-ed. Rin was good at snap judgments. The former tsundere had graduated from 'Angry-Nice' teenager to 'Angry-Disillusioned' twenty-something. the 'Nice' part must have just been hormones.

She had trimmed her hair into a paige-boy bob, as a compromise between looking good and getting the hair out of her way. That and her woman's business suit made her look like a MBA on the way up the corporate ladder. Well, except that the skirt on the suite was about 6" too short. Some habits are hard to give up.

Zaytsev shook his head, looking nervous, "they move their base of operations around a lot. I detected their bounded field near here a couple of days ago, but I am not certain if they have moved." He rubbed his hands together, "We have never had anything like this in Hecht before. It's a quiet city"

Rin sighed, and then called out to her partner "Berhard, can you sense any bounded fields near here?" Technically, Johan Bernhard was the 'Senior partner' – aka her boss, but Rin wasn't going to put up with any crap from some half competent political appointee. She had been partnered with him against her will, and sent off to deal with minor 'situations', such as lost goblins or college kids that had stumbled on a piece of real magic, which was what they were in Hecht-on-Rhine for. It was beneath her abilities, and it cut into her research time, but the Clocktower required their members to help out with field work as part of their membership dues. And being Asian, she got all the shit jobs.

"I can't detect anything. How about we split up?" Berhard replied, striking a manly pose, his chest out, his head held high as a breeze ruffled his (thinning) hair.

_'And all the shit people too'_ Rin added silently. "No splitting up until we know what we are dealing with" _'Moron'_, "But we can walk on opposite sides of the street – that will expand our range slightly" _'I wish Shirou was here. Him I could let out of my sight and not have him get buggered by some nickel and dime undead. God, I feel like a babysitter. And I hate kids.'_

Bernhard gave Rin an annoyed look, "It's just a bunch of kids that got their hands on a grimoire. I know you Asians aren't very good at this, but all you have to do is hypnotize the bunch and take the grimoire away from them. I'll take down any bounded fields that they may have set up."

_'I need to stop this – I already cracked one tooth_' Rin tried to unclench her jaw as she processed the idiocy that was spewing from her partner. She quickly crossed to the other side of the street, "ok, lets get going" she said brightly, with a smile, _'before I kill you'_,

The pair slowly paced down the street, with Zaytsev tagging along near Rin. Apparently he could tell who was the more competent mage. Or maybe he preferred to spend time with the smiling young woman rather than the severe looking middle aged man. Either way, he wasn't a complete idiot.

Even though Rin was almost thirty, she still looked like she was right out of college. Which she usually appreciated, except when it came to getting some respect.

"I got it!" yelled out Bernhard, pointing at an empty lot in excitement.

As Rin jogged over, the empty lot wavered, and became an abandoned indoor shopping mall. It was a two story building, with a vaulting main arcade that spanned both floors.

Berhard barely waited for her before crossing the bounded field into the building. Rin paused to see if anything pounced on him, physically or magically. _'Shirou was never this dense, not even in high school'_

Rin and Zaytsev followed. The building was unlit, with the empty storefronts gaping at them ominously. Their footsteps echoed softly. This late at night, all the neighboring businesses had closed for the day, and the neighborhood was empty.

Rin glanced at the Second Owner and frowned _'Zaytsev means rabbit in Russian. At least he's named right'_

Berhard spoke a word, and a ball of light appeared around his upraised hand.

The three magi made their way down the main arcade. "I hear something" Vasiliy whispered to Rin. She paused, and heard it too – a susurration, like a group of people chanting.

"It's coming from big store at the end" Berhard started to walk faster. Which is why when the windows on the storefronts to either side of him blew out, he was the only one to get sprayed with the glass.

"Ahh!" he yelled, covering his face as blood poured from several cuts. The light on his hand went out. Which was probably for the best, as it was what had made him a target in the first place.

Rin pointed at the left storefront and spread her fingers, spraying it quickly with Gander shot before turning to the right and tapping a small gem and reciting "Feuer brennen!" and lashing out with a bolt of fire at a nightmarish -something- that leaped out from the right storefront

"Vasiliy, take the left side!"

The Second Owner, recovering from his surprise, started throwing surprisingly powerful lightning bolts at the creatures. They looked like mix of human and bat, but in all black. They were extremely quick, but they weren't any tougher than a human when hit with spell-fire.

Berhard recovered and stood up tall as he chanted:

"Eisen der Zwerge

fliegen von Ihren Berg Echtheiten

schlagen sich die uberirdische"

Metallic spikes flew from his outstretch palm, ripping apart one of the creatures. He turned to face another attacker, only to be forced back as it sprang at him. A rune flashed on his coat and faded out. as it did, Bernhard's attacker was flung away from him.

The only light came from where stray spells had set the walls to smoldering.

The spells were all powerful enough to fry any creature that they hit, but the bat things were fast, swarming around the spell casters, not giving them a clear target.

"Use shorter arias!" yelled Rin _'those idiots are too slow'_. She pulled out a small revolver and shot a monstrosity from point blank range. As the tiny derringer barked, a chip of gemstone shot out, blazing with prana before exploding in the monsters chest, ripping it in two. _'I need to thank Shirou later'_ The derringer had been a birthday present

"We need to get out of here!" yelled Berhard, "We can't take them!"

_'Come on, Shirou!'_

Just then, a figure dressed all in black vaulted down from the second floor gallery, landing at the edge of the attackers. He wore a black, uniform-like pants and shirt, with glowing runes running all over them.

Moving with super-human speed, he gutted one of the creatures with a dagger as he opened fire with a machine pistol at several others.

The bullets that spewed out glowed with a silver, ethereal light, but they worked just fine on the monsters.

One of the monsters managed to grab his arm, but it's claws just scraped on the black cloth, like it was hardened steel. The young man threw it one handed into a wall before putting a bullet into it for good measure. Thick black ichor oozed out.

As the things stumbled in confusion, Rin released a longer aria, throwing out a whip of flame that scorched several as they tried to escape their new assailant.

A bolt of lightning flattened two more, and Berhard launched a jagged spike of metal through the last survivor.

Pulling himself together, Berhard turned to face their young rescuer. "who are you?" he asked imperiously.

"Sgt. Sousuke, I'm with Mithril" replied the young man as he continued to scan the mall for any further threats.

"Ah, Mithril?" asked Berhard in confusion. The man in front of him didn't look old enough to be a soldier – he looked like a high school kid, "Who.."

"Lets go" Sgt. Sousuke hissed, and started towards the chanting, keeping in a half crouch as he advanced.

Rin quickly followed his lead, her derringer in her hand _'I can't believe I walked into that - being around Berhard must drop my IQ by 10 points'_

Berhard and Zaytsev followed behind the two. They appeared uncertain if they should be crouching down as well or not.

When they reached the entrance to the anchor store, Sousuke paused. The chanting was definitely coming from inside. He glanced questioningly at Rin.

"Vasiliy, take down the bounded field. Berhard, blast the door open. Sergeant, when the door is clear, go in. I will cover you."

It was a moment's work for the Second Owner to take down the sloppy bounded field. Berhard then slammed the door off its hinges with an overpowered blast of force.

Sousuke darted in, taking cover behind a cash register. Rin followed his lead, as Sousuke covered her.

Inside the store stood a circle of black robed people chanting. Each held up his left hand as if in greeting, while clenching a dagger in their left. In the middle of the circle, floating above head height was a book, with black fog-like tendrils that reached out to each cultist. Underneath the book floated a young woman dressed in a nightgown. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be asleep.

Sousuke quickly darted to one side and slapped a sigil etched onto a palm sized piece of metal onto the wall. As he did, Bernhard stepped into the room and sent a storm of metal darts at the cultists.

A tendril of the black fog knocked the darts aside, and all hell broke loose. Black tendrils swarmed towards the mages, and they were hard pressed to drive them off.

Flashes of fire and bursts of semi-automatic gunfire burst in the dark room, Berhard's overpowered spells were less visible, but they did more to drive the fog back.

"Target the book!" yelled Rin, as she snapped of a shot with her derringer. Unfortunately, the small pistol was not terribly accurate, and the shot went wide.

The cultists had stopped chanting and turned to face the magus. One, who looked like a middle aged accountant, looked at Rin and opened his mouth. She barely dodged in time as a thick stream of some black liquid shot out at her.

_'I have no idea what that is, but it's got to be bad for you'_ Rin dodged aside, hitting the cultist with a Gander shot, but it hit with no effect.

"Shit" she ducked a clumsy punch from the black shrouded figure before retaliating with a blast of concussive force that sent the man flying. As Rin dodged a swing from what looked like a high school jock, she noticed the first cultist staggering back to his feet.

_'That's not good_' Rin grimaced

The magi were able to contain the cultists, but the cultists were protected from most their attacks by the black fog. The battle was too evenly matched.

BANG!

A shot rang out. So loud it must have been from a high caliber rifle.

The book jerked and tore.

BANG

A second shot hit the book. This one exploded into a ball of silvery fire on contact with the grimoire , consuming it in moments.

The cultist staggered and looked confused as the garish light from the burning book glared over them. Rin glanced towards the noise – where Sousuke had slapped the sigil onto the wall, there was now a doorway (complete with an ornate wooden door) into.. somewhere else. Red light leaked from it.

Crouching to the side of the doorway was a man in a dark green military uniform. He was just lowering a sniper rifle as two more soldiers rushed to take positions behind a pair of cash registers, aiming their assault rifles at the cultists.

Following behind them came a tall, gray haired man. He came in unarmed.

"Everybody, don't move, hands on your heads. NOW!" He braked,

"What's the meaning of this!" demanded Berhard

"Stand down, Berhard" Rin called out, "they're allies."

"Oh, Hi, Rin" the tall man stepped forward, and his face broke into a smile. "You and your people can relax. Actually, it'd be great if you could give us a hand checking these poor saps for any remaining enscrollement so that we can let them go." When he relaxed, the man looked much younger, in fact appearing not much older than Sousuke.

"What's the meaning of this! These people must be eradicated!" barked Berhard at the same time as Rin said, "Hello, Shirou."

"You know this guy? Tell him we can't let cultists go – they will just do the same thing again."

Shirou shook his head, "Check them for Magic Circuits – I'm betting they don't have any. The grimoire was a mystic code of some sort. It was running the show. Most of the people here were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Shirou," Rin sighed, "somebody here triggered the grimoire."

"And you are going to kill the lot just to get that one person?" Shirou asked vehemently, "besides, I bet they have learned their lesson"

Shirou turned to face the group of former cultists, who were huddling in a group under the sights of the Mithril soldiers. Despite the lack of resistance, the soldiers remained on guard, with their rifles at the ready - they appeared very professional.

Shirou looked around, noticing that Sousuke was helping up the young woman who had been in the middle of it all.

"Anybody here think what they were involved with was a good idea?"

The cultists shook their head no, "What... What did happen? I don't remember" said one. There were murmurs of agreement.

"I don't want to kill these people, but we can't just let them go! Insisted Vasiliy, "it's against the rules. What if they tell someone what happened here? We should hypnotize them"

"And who will believe them?" Responded Rin at the same time as Shirou shook his head, "Hypnotize them so that they can't speak of this, but let them remember. Otherwise, how will they learn to avoid dangerous magic?"

As the discussion was under way, Bernhard started an aria, only to stutter to a halt as a sword appeared under his adams apple, as if by magic.

"Go home!" Shirou snarled.

"Come on," Rin took Bernhard's elbow and steered him away from confronting Shirou, "if you fight, I'll end up having to file a report on why you died, and this whole thing has already wasted enough of my time."

*KoM*KoM*

"You can start by saying 'thank you'" Rin pronounced as Shirou walked into her office at the Clocktower several days later.

"Me thank you? I rescued you." Shirou walked over to a cupboard tucked away under a pile of papers and grabbed a tea cup before sitting down in the guest chair (a pleasantly overstuffed chaise - Rin did like her little luxuries) and pouring himself a cup. He was dressed in casual clothes, having abandoned his military garb.

"If I hadn't done some spin control then that idiot would have sent all of the Association after you." Rin countered as she walked over to Shirou and took the cup out of his hand and put it on the desk.

"Um," Shirou asked as Rin dropped into his lap and kissed him passionately

Pulling back for a moment he managed to get out "I thought we were going to debrief about the operation?"

"Talk later, sex now" Rin almost growled, locking the door with a wave of her hand.

*KoM*KoM*

Shirou was lying on the small cot that Rin kept in the back of the office, for those time when she had too much work to bother going home. (that was the official explanation, at least).

Clothes were scattered all over the floor, a pile of papers had been knocked off of the desk, and the tea was cold.

He turned to Rin, who was snuggled up close to him, so as not to fall off of the small bed. "Rin? What's our relationship, exactly? I have barely seen you in six months and now this."

"It's the same it's always been" Rin replied sleepily. "And it's not my fault you haven't seen me in six months. You keep running around with that Mithril thing of yours"

Shirou took a moment to look at her with a melancholy expression before replying, "It takes a lot of work to set up a new organization. You know that. But you could come join us."

Rin snorted, "Yeah, right. I want to do research. Would you be able to provide me with a laboratory? Or funding?" she replied disparagingly, easily slipping into her facade of dedicated researcher.

"And you have so much time for research here in the Clocktower?" Shirou asked gently, "They have you doing all sorts of busy work that could be done by someone with half your talent."

"The pompous, stuck up racist pigs!" snarled Rin. "I am so fed up with dealing with them!"

"So, my offer stand" finished Shirou. His argument was half hearted. He could see the direction things were going.

Rin was quiet for a moment, before changing the topic, "So did you find anything from checking out the cultists?"

Shirou sighed and pulled Rin close, "Most had no memory of anything that happened. They remembered walking in a bad part of town, a flash of black, and that's it. I had your sister check them over, and only two of them had magic circuits - one of the cultists and the young woman who looked like she was about to be sacrificed. I am letting them both go, but I am putting some of my people on them to watch them for a couple of months. Especially the girl. her name is Kaname Chidori, and she remembers hearing odd voices coming from the grimoire."

"you were able to convince my sister to fly out to Germany? I though she's scared of airplanes." Rin asked in surprise.

Shirou smirked, "She didn't fly. She walked."

"What do you mean?" asked Rin suspiciously.

"You remember Tessa? Waver's former apprentice? She's a genius - maybe better than you! She came up with a way to connect my Reality Marble to different parts of the real world. It lets us take a shortcut to anywhere in the world. You saw Sousuke set up an entrance in Germany. Without that, it would be much harder for us to operate out of an island in the middle of nowhere..." Shirou ran out of steam, noticing that Rin had pulled away and wasn't responding.

He replayed what he said before sighing. "I didn't mean anything by it. You know that I love you. but Tessa *IS* a very talented Magus."

Rin's anger passed as quickly as it came, "So what's your plan now?"

"More of the same. I know it's all small stuff, but Mithril doing good work, helping people. We are starting to get a reputation."

"Not that I've heard" Rin replied with a frown

Shirou leaned in and kissed her, "that's because we don't want the Clocktower to get involved."

"But who else is there?"

"Local governments, NGO's, stuff like that" Rin's eyes got big, so Shirou added, "They don't know about the magic - they just think we have really advanced technology"

"And that what, you're fighting off space aliens?"

"That works too" smiled Shirou.

*KoM*KoM*

a wisp of black smoke curled around a bronze scarab resting on a tripod. the room was almost pitch black, the only source of light the torch that was producing the smoke.

"en chert dver" the voice was old and soft, but certain as it muttered nonsense syllables.

The smoke slowly soaked into the scarab. After fifteen minutes, the last of the smoke was gone, and the room noticeably brightened.

The old man smiled, "yes, this is a good one"


	2. Chapter 2

_'thoughts'_

"speech"

START

Kaname Chidori dragged her way to high school _'I thought you were supposed to come back from vacation feeling relaxed. Why am I so tired?'_

"Hey, how was Germany?" called out Kyoko Tokiwa, Kaname's classmate and best friend, "You look pretty jet-lagged". He twin pig tails bounced as she jogged to catch up with Kaname.

"Germany was... odd" Chidori paused, "Something happened, but for the life of me, I can't remember what. It was after we came back from the hike. I can't even remember the flight back at all!" The two girls made their way up the city street.

"Are you feeling all right? Did you get sick?"

"No... I feel fine, just tired." The two girls made it to their homeroom with minutes to spare. It was the same brightly lit, modern classroom that Chidori had always been in, but now it felt ominous, like there was something dark hiding in the corners, just out of sight. And her head hurt.

"Stand"

"Bow"

Ms. Kagurazaka, the home room teacher, entered the classroom, "Students, we have a transfer student joining us today. Please say hello to Sousuke Sagara.

A young man walked stiffly into the class and gave a formal bow "My name is Sousuke Sagara. Reporting for class." before assuming a 'parade rest' stance - feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, hands clasped behind his back.

All the students were watching him (especially the girls), so nobody noticed Chidori's eyes bug out _'I know him from somewhere. He was there when...'_ her mind went blank. _'Why can't I remember?'_

Kyoko noticed her friends fixed stare, "Hmmm."

"What" asked Chidori.

"Nothing, nothing" Kyoko covered her smile with her hand.

As class started, Chidori noticed that there was more whispering than usual. Her class, while not the top in the school, was usually well disciplined. She turned to see a couple of girls in the row behind her whispering and glancing at the new boy. She sighed,_ 'I guess that's to be expected'._

"Open it". hissed a sibilant voice in her ear. Chidori glanced up - that didn't sound like a student. "Release us" Chidori glanced behind her, the girls were still at it, but the strange voice wasn't coming from them.

Chidori resolved to ignore it and concentrate on the teacher.

By the time school was over, Chidori was substantially freaked out - she had heard the odd voice twice more. One of the times was when she was in the locker room, getting into her gym clothes. And it was definitely a male voice.

And she still couldn't remember where she knew Sousuke from. And he was definitely a memorable sort. He so awkward, but at the same time, so confident - it didn't seem to bother him at all. That impressed her. And he was kind of cute, too, but she wasn't going to mention that part.

"Don't look, but that boy you like is walking our way" Kyoko whispered as the two girls walked home.

"What?! Which boy?" Chidori squawked indignantly.

"Sousuke. the transfer student you have been staring at all day."

"No, I haven't" Chidori shook her head, "I just think I know him from somewhere." She glanced over her shoulder. There he was, walking about 50 feet back. "I think he's following us. The way he's watching us is creepy" Chidori grabbed her friend and darted into an alley.

They crisscrossed through a couple small side streets before reaching Chidori's apartment building. It was a modern high-rise, and her family lived on the fourth floor. The neighboring buildings were all older four story brownstones.

"Hah! We lost him!" Chidori crowed.

Kyoko just shook her head in bemusement as she parted with her exuberant friend.

*KoM*KoM*

After Kaname entered her building, Sousuke lowered himself from the roof of the building across the street down to the fourth floor fire escape and entered his apartment through the window.

*KoM*KoM*

"So what have we got?" asked Shirou, walking into his office. The air conditioning was working hard to maintain a comfortable environment. Tessa was already there, a pile of papers spread out in front of her. Her silver hair was pulled back in a braid, and she was wearing a on officer's uniform.

Tessa (aka Teletha Testarossa), was a magical prodigy who had recently finished her apprenticeship under Waver Velvet. At 22, she had a better grasp of magical theory than many magi twice her age. And she was full of ideas on how to apply that theory to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, she was a first generation magus, so almost nobody in the Clocktower would listen to her. Except a few magi who were trying to pick her up.

So she had been very surprised when an unknown young magus had not only listened to her, but had volunteered to fund her work, in return for her joining his new organization.

"Hi, Shirou-san" she smiled, smoothing back her hair "The first layer of enchantment on the Tuatha de Danaan is active. We can install the Zelretch drive as soon as I finish testing it!" The usually quiet woman was positively beaming with excitement.

"Wow, you work fast!" Shirou settled into his desk. _'I can't believe I lucked out on getting somebody like her'_ Without Tessa, Mithril wouldn't have been possible. She was the one who realized that Shirou was actually creating a separate reality, one in which he had control over some of the laws of physics, when used his Reality Marble. And it was her work that made it possible for him to enter and exit it in different parts of the world. Shirou still had no clue how it worked – he just followed her direction. But Rin had trained him well in that respect (following orders from genius girls that is, not in magic per se).

"Well, most of the enchantment was done with Runes, so I was able to train my staff to do a lot of the work." she replied modestly, blushing slightly at the compliment. She had become a lot more self confident since her teenaged years, but it was still nice to get a compliment, especially from Shirou, who was the the driving force (and ideal made flesh) behind all of Mithril.

The Tuatha de Danaan was a submarine that Tessa was turning into a vehicle that could travel anywhere in the world by diving below reality. It was a project that grew out of her experimentation with Shirou's reality marble. Currently, Tessa was the director of Mithril's 'magic division', and second in command to Shirou over all.

"So you need something from me?"

"Uhm," Tessa paused awkwardly, "I need to compare the Zelretch drive to your reality marble, so if I could trouble you for a few minutes..." her voice trailed off as she tugged absently on her uniform to straighten it, and she didn't quite meet Shirou's gaze..

"Sure, no problem!" Shirou was always willing to help. "What about that incident in Germany? you said there was something funny about it?"

Tessa nodded quickly, "The sensitives have detected an upswing in similar summoning magics."

"Are they certain it isn't just Magi doing legitimate research? I haven't been reading the technical journals, but if somebody published on this topic, they could have spurred a fad in dimensional research."

"I _have_ been following the journals, and there isn't anything like that in there." Tessa pointed to the stack of journals that Shirou kept on his shelf. though honestly, he never actually read them, as he couldn't make heads or tails of pretty much anything in there (but they looked really impressive, all standing in a neat row on his shelf). Tessa, on the other hand, went through them like they were light reading.

"Also, the prana bloom from these events is way too high - it shows that the spell are being performed by amateurs."

"Do you have any idea where?"

Tessa shook her head. "You know that it doesn't work like that."

Shirou scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "well, I was hoping that our resident genius had found a way around that."

Tessa smiled at the compliment, and started to play with the end of her braid, "Thank you, but I can't change the laws of magic" _'Unlike some'_ But Shirou was too modest (others, less polite, would have said 'too dense') to realize that his Reality Marble verged on True Magic.

"In that case, I guess we will just have to do this the old fashion way. I'll get Operations to start snooping around. Hopefully it's all just a coincidence." Shirou stood up, "I'll go get Andrei, so you can brief him" Andrei Kalinin was Shirou's Chief of operations, and took care of all the non-magical aspect of Mithril.

"Um, can we do the Zelretch tuning first?" Tessa asked.

"Oh, right" Shirou stopped, looking embarrassed at getting side tracked. He led the way to the laboratory. It was a separate building, sitting all by itself under a stand of palm trees. The two walked in companionable silence through the tropical morning to the well warded building. One of the advantages of having your base on a tropical island was that every day was a beautiful day. Of course, the disadvantage was that you were in the middle of nowhere. There weren't too many people needing rescuing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and it took forever to get anywhere else. But that was going to change soon.

The lab itself was a mess of half finished projects and journals, though a large space had been cleared around a wooden stand holding the what looked like a cats-eye marble the size of a bowling ball. "Ok" said Tessa, placing one hand on the Zelretch drive, and the other on Shirou's chest. She adjusted her fingers a couple of time, running them over his (well muscled) chest. They stood like that for a long moment.

"Ready? asked Shirou quizzically.

"Ah, one moment, sorry." Tessa readjusted her fingers on Shirou's chest and started an aria. from his angle, Shirou couldn't see the furious blush that colored her cheeks. "Ok, go"

"I am the bone of my sword..."

Shirou triggered his Realty Marble. At the same time, the cats-eye marble pulsed bright orange. Tessa concentrated as she balanced the energy from the cats-eye with that coming off of Shirou. After ten minutes, the two were perfectly in sync.

"Ok, that's enough," said Tessa, her voice coming out quickly, but Shirou was zoning out, so it was ok.

*KoM*KoM*

flashback

Rin looked up from making an entry in her log book as somebody entered her lab. it was Shirou, with another man - a teenager - in tow. They carefully wove their way around the assorted lab benches strewn with equipment.

"Rin, I don't know if you remember Sousuke Sagara?" Shirou turned to introduce the intense looking teenager. "I have taken him on as my apprentice" Shirou beamed.

Rin's left eyebrow crept up towards her hairline, "Are you certain that you're qualified to teach magic?" she asked sweetly. though her tone implied that Shirou clearly wasn't.

"No, but that's ok. Sousuke doesn't have any Magic Circuits. I meant he's going to be an apprentice Hero of Justice"

Rin's left eyebrow joined it's pair in seeking higher ground. "Shirou, sweetheart, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" Her tone was the level of saccharine that Shirou had learned meant extreme displeasure.

She grabbed Shirou and dragged him bodily to the back of the lab, behind a cabinet "Are you insane?" She tried to keep her voice down, with limited success, "You're a magus, so that gives you some ability to survive your adventures. but if you drag a regular person in, you will get him killed!"

"Area 51 has been training him as a soldier since he was a kid. He's very, VERY good at it. but fighting are the only skills he has. What do you want me to do - let him make a life as a soldier of fortune, until that lifestyle destroys him? Like what happened to my father? He's a good person, but he needs something to fight for. and I am going to give him that."

Rin sighed and smiled at her boyfriend, _'He's too good for me'_ "So this is another case of you saving people. But no matter how talented he is, there's no way he will be able to keep up with you."

Shirou was used to her rapid mood swings, so the change didn't faze him. "That's what we are here for - I was hoping you could help me work up some Mystic Codes that would give Sousuke an edge."

"I don't know... I will have to look into it. Have you talked to Bazett? She uses a number of Mystic Codes in her work. In the meantime" Rin turned back to the teenager, "Hey Sousuke, can you please come here? I want to see if this will work for you.

END flashback

*KoM*KoM*

Chidori woke as from a trance. She had been walking home from school when she had zoned out. The buildings didn't look familiar.

"Are you ok, miss?" a voice asked her. she realized somebody was gently holding her elbow.

"What happened?" she turned to find Sousuke standing next to her, staring intently, as was his norm. She pulled her arm out of his grip, "and where do I know you from?"

"Half way home, you left your usual itinerary and started to shuffle towards the industrial district. I intercepted you before you got lost." replied Sousuke in a voice that sounded like he was making a report to a superior officer.

"Who are?"

"I am sorry, I can't tell you that - it's classified." Sousuke replied with a frown,."Have you been hearing voices again?" He asked, trying to puzzle out what had happened to Chidori.

"What do you mean 'again'?" demanded Chidori, "And why should I tell you anything if you won't even tell me who you are?" Her voice rose until she was almost yelling

"Sergeant Sousuke Sagara, SIR!" Replied the young man as he drew himself up to parade rest. The reply was automatic, triggered when Chidori's voice hit just the right 'commanding officer' pitch.

WHACK

Chidori brandished the fan she had just hit the sergeant with, "That doesn't actually tell me anything, you idiot!"

"Uhm, It's classified?" he tried again.

WHACK

"I'm going home, and you better not follow me!" Chidori turned to walk away before spinning back, "How did you know what my route home is? Have you been following me?"

"It's classified.."

WHACK

"I'm following orders"

WHACK

"I live across the street from you?" Sousuke tried in desperation.

"Oh, Why didn't you say so." Chidori paused, "So, are you coming? if we're neighbors, we might as well walk together." Apparently Kaname figured anybody who didn't fight back when being whacked with a fan was harmless. and he _was_ kind of cute.

*KoM*KoM*

"Come in, make yourself comfortable" Waver motioned for Rin to take a seat in his study. It was a small comfortable room with bookshelves jutting out of the walls, giving it a maze like feel. At one end, there were a couple of chairs and a small end table supporting a tea service. "So how's your research coming?"

Rin walked in, to all appearances a stereotypical elegant dragon lady. She lowered herself gracefully into a chair, "poorly. The Clocktower keeps sending me on make-work assignments."

Waver grimaced, "I know how it is. Give them time - in a few more years, they will have a new favorite chew toy, and you can do your own thing."

"I still find it frustrating." Rin allowed herself a small scowl.

"Just think of it as paying your dues. It does get better." He gave a small smile as he raised his tea cup to his lips

Rin took a sip of her tea, "While I do appreciate your advice, I suspect there was some other reason you asked me to stop by."

Waver nodded, "Have you heard from Shirou? How is Mithril doing?"

Rin grimaced "You mean Shirou and his Nuts of the Round Table?"

"Careful." the other Magus warned, "My apprentice believes in him,"

"Oh, I know that he's doing good work, helping people and all that, but he's always getting in over his head. You wouldn't believe how often I have to bail him out." Rin replied airily

"Hmm" Waver nodded, "I was wondering if you could have Shirou look into something for me."

"Oh?"

"I have heard some... disturbing things about a Sealing Designate in China. Rumors are that he is working with the local government. So not only is he going to be hard to arrest, but he may be revealing the existence of magic to outsiders."

"And so? I understand why the magus association wants him stopped, but Shirou isn't going to get involved unless the guy is hurting people. You know how he is" A small affectionate smile escaped Rin's facade."

"As far as we know, he hasn't committed any atrocities, but he's trying to replicate Zelretch's work on inter-dimensional travel, and that is extremely dangerous stuff. It drove Zelretch mad. We are just lucky that he is a harmless crank."

"Hmm." Rin picked up her cup and took a sip of tea, "Not to be rude, but why don't you contact him? Like you said earlier, your apprentice works with Shirou"

"I don't want to officially involve the Clocktower in this. They have been known to over react, and it's not clear how many mundanes are involved, and if the Chinese Government, even on a local level, has ties to this, the Mage's Association will make a complete disaster of it."

Rin nodded, _'And you don't want your name associated with Mithril, in case the Mage's Association does get involved_' "I will talk to him about, when I next see him"

*KoM*KoM*

"You said that you have something for me, Lieutenant Commander?" Tessa asked as she walked in Andrei Kalinin's office. His office was sparsely furnished. There was a desk and a bookcase. A very small stack of papers was on one end of the table, and a scattering of books on the bookshelf. there was one photo - it was of the Lieutenant Commander with a woman his age and a small child. From some discreet inquiries, Tessa had learned that both his wife and son had died in suspicious circumstances several years ago. The Russian government had insisted it was a terrorist attack, but it reeked of a Mages Association cover up.

The older man cleared his throat, "First of all, make your subordinates come to you, not the other way around"

"Oh, uhm, I just didn't want to inconvenience you."

"Doesn't matter. It helps establish the command hierarchy." He replied firmly.

"Shirou doesn't do it"

"Shirou is... different" allowed the military man, "He has a personal relationship with all of his top officers, and many of the enlisted men. They are all dedicated to him."

"It's almost like an old fashioned king and his knights."

"Hmm. But that is not what I wanted to talk to you about. I just got a message from the American NSA that they have had a rash of Sasquatch sightings."

"And this is worth our time?"

"Well, the sightings were in central Massachusetts, not in the American Northwest, where they typically take their vacations. And the creature has scared a bunch of locals - the situation borders on revealing magic to mundanes."

Tessa nodded, "get in touch with the Area 51 case officer. We'll look into it when we have some time"

*KoM*KoM*

A crease appeared in empty space. It rippled, and then tore open, spilling forth an abomination from beyond space and time. It had the body of a squat human, and a squid for a head. It sheer presence caused those around it to lose their humanity and become reduced to mere animals.

It was incomprensible.

It was awe inspiring.

It was mind shattering.

It was 2 inches tall

And the house cat thought it tasted like chicken.

But the ripples spread and grew. It was only a matter of time before a larger hole tore open.


	3. Chapter 3

_'Thoughts'_

"speech"

START story

A month later:

"So, what's the plan?" Shirou asked as he drove the little Chinese car through the rolling desert hills of the Chinese interior. There was nothing to see, and since the sun started to set, it was getting harder to see even that. Rin and Shirou were skirting the edge of the Gobi desert, an area almost devoid of human habitation. It was hard to believe that they were in one of the most populous nations in the world.

"We go to the coordinates that Waver gave us, check out if there is a rogue magus handing out out spells to the local officials, then put and end to it." Rin recited for the umpteenth time. She was leaning back in the passenger seat, her feet up on the dashboard as she did her nails. "Preferably without the Mage's Association getting wind of it, otherwise there are going to be bodies everywhere." She appeared very comfortable, despite the bumpy gravel road.

"I know that part," replied Shirou exasperated, "But why are you coming along - the Clocktower has been running you ragged. You were just complaining that you haven't had time to do any research in months."

"Baka" Rin absentmindedly smacked Shirou in the head by way of answer. She frowned when she noticed that the nail polish had smeared.

When no further explanation was forthcoming, Shirou continued, "You know, if you took on an apprentice, they could at least set up your experiments when you are away. That way, you would be able to get some work done in the few days your home."

"And when would I train an apprentice?"

"You could bring her along."

"Her? You have somebody specific in mind?" Rin asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"That girl you rescued - Chidori - if Sousuke clears her, she might be a good candidate."

"She's Japanese - getting her a membership in the Mage's Association is going to be like wrestling an alligator."

"So don't go through the Mage's Association. I never joined. And what's this about wrestling alligators?"

"You didn't join because you flunked the entrance exam. On purpose."

"So? I want to know about the alligators."

"Oh, for goodness sake," Rin rolled her eyes "It was just a turn of phrase. I have not, nor do I plan to, wrestle any alligators. Good enough?"

"Good enough," Shirou agreed, "After all, how am I supposed to keep you safe if you keep insisting on wrestling large reptiles?"

"Baka!" Rin smacked Shirou on the shoulder with the back of her hand, but she had a small smile on her face. After a moment, she continued, "Taking on an apprentice is a huge commitment. I would need somebody I can trust completely, It's almost like a parent child relationship" _'And I suck at opening up to people'_ "I don't know how you manage with Mithril". That last part slipped out without conscious thought. Rin did her best to avoid mentioning THAT organization.

Shirou smiled, "It's not easy, but what other choice did I have? I saw how unhappy Arturia was, when I went to her time. Despite how powerful she was, she was helpless to achieve her goals after she lost her knights of the round table."

Rin turned to look out the window, withdrawing from the conversation, as she often did when Mithril or Arturia were bought up. And as always, Shirou gave her her space.

The two magi had flown into the city closest to their target. Not that it was much of a city - it had an airport, a couple of factories and enough smog to kill a normal human. Unfortunately, China is a big country, and they were still far from their destination, so Rin had hypnotized a car dealer into thinking they were Communist party officials. But Shirou had insisted on paying for the car, though.

They had been driving for most of the day, and there was still nothing in sight except small scrub trees and hills.

"We're still a couple of miles from the coordinated Waver-san gave us. We should find a spot and camp out for the night." Shirou finally said with a worried frown.

"We can make it before full dark."

"Maybe, but I don't feel comfortable rolling into a potentially hostile situation just as night falls."

"Point" frowned Rin, "In that case, can the car make it up to that jumble of scree? It should help keep the wind off, and it will give me something to anchor the bounded field to." Her mood had lightened again, or at least she was doing a better job of hiding her unhappiness. With Rin, even Shirou had a hard time knowing what was real and what was an act.

Shirou gently made his way towards the rocks that Rin had picked. The cheap Chinese car grumbling and thumping as it went over the rough ground.

"I still don't see why we didn't take the SUV" Rin groused.

"Because we couldn't afford it?" replied Shirou.

"You know, sometimes the end DOES justify the means." Rin retorted.

"You only say that when _your_ end is sore"

"Mmm" Purred Rin with a smile.

"I didn't mean it THAT way!" Shirou replied, flustered. He concentrated on pulling the struggling car into the lee of the rocks and turned off the engine. "Why is that whenever I try to tease you, I end up the one at a loss for words?" he asked as he stretched.

Rin gave him a look "Because I'm smarter than you." and got out of the car.

Shirou waited until she was just leaning forwards to take her first step before flicking his hand out to catch her across the rear with the tips of his fingers.

"Wha!" Rin squawked and spilled from the car, almost landing face first in the dry dirt.

"But I'm faster" smiled Shirou.

*KoM*KoM*

"So, I hear you walked home with Sousuke the other day" Kyoko bounced along next to Kaname, skipping through the slight drizzle. The pair were walking home from school. Kaname, ever the sensible one, had her umbrella out.

"No, I didn't - he was just walking in the same direction." Kaname replied hastily. "He lives across the street from me."

"Oh, falling for the boy next door - it's just like a romance" Kyoko replied in an exaggeratedly breathy voice as she clutched her clenched hands near her cheek.

"It's not like that."

"But he is cute."

"So, that doesn't mean anything"

"And you keep having fantasies about him"

"I DO NOT! I saw him somewhere in real life!" Kaname replied, and picked up her pace. The day was getting darker, and it looked like would rain for real soon.

Kyoko glanced up at the clouds and pulled out her umbrella as well before jogging to catch up with her friend. "Don't get angry - I was just teasing."

Kaname sighed - she was never one to stay angry for long, "He is cute, but there is something .. weird about him. I'm not certain how to explain it. it's like he's missing basic social skills."

The pair weaved their way through a series of side streets as thunder growled and the rain poured forth like a waterfall. both girls pulled their umbrellas down closer to their heads.

"So he's an otaku. Heavens knows half the boys in our grade are."

"Maybe" Kaname walked in silence for a moment before coming to a halt. "Did we take a wrong turn?"

"I.. I wasn't paying attention - I was following you." Kyoko looked around at the buildings. They didn't look familiar, though in the rain and gloom, it was hard to tell.

Chidori turned around, "Lets head back the way we came". The girls had just started back when a pair of drunks staggered out from an alleyway and moved to block their path.

"grab the girl" it was just a whisper

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" demanded Kaname at the same time as Kyoko shrank back.

The drunks didn't reply, instead they staggered towards the girls.

"Kill the short one" There was the sound of glass breaking behind them.

"Who said that?" Kaname whirled to see another set of drunks staggering up the street behind them.

"RUN." she yelled and tried to dart around the mysterious assailant. She managed to dart around one, but Kyoko was too slow, and her way was blocked. Kaname turned and smacked one of the drunks with her umbrella. _'oh, god. he reeks!'_ She staggered from the smell. the drunk ignored the blow, instead grasping at Chidori's arm.

"Let go!" She yelled shrilly. the hand holding her had the flesh peeling off, but it was strong.

Something black dropped to the ground behind the zombie. Before the creature had time to react, a pair of gunshots rang out, and the monster's head exploded like an over-ripe watermelon.

"AAH!" Kaname screamed, staggering back as the zombie's grip loosened.

She glanced up to see a soaking wet Sousuke standing in a professional shooting stance as he gunned down another zombie with a large automatic pistol. At this point, Kyoko was cowering on her knees, with her arms over her head. Sousuke was wearing black suit that looked vaguely like a school uniform, except that it was covered in small red symbols. As he moved some of them flared yellow, while others faded to black.

"What's going on? What are these? Who are you?" Kaname had the presence of mind not to run from her defender.

BAM!

BAM!

Two more shots, both head shots, and the last of the zombies dropped. "I am sorry you were exposed to that, Chidori-san. I was remiss in my duties." Sousuke apologized.

"Duties? What are you talking about?

Sousuke paused to consider. He really didn't like operating without orders, but Shirou (who was his role model, as well as commanding officer) had insisted that he use his own judgement more. And Chidori's reaction to the zombie attack seemed to imply that the girl was not a rogue magus.

"I will explain once we are at a safe location." Sousuke moved to help Kyoko up. The smaller girl still looked dazed, so Kaname moved to support her from the other side. "Come on, before more of these show up."

*KoM*KoM*

"Why are we going to your apartment? Chidori asked skeptically. Kyoko had recovered enough to walk on her own, but she was still uncharacteristically silent.

Sousuke unlocked the front door to his apartment "because I am not certain if whoever sent the.. things" he gave Kyoko a quick glance "to capture you might have done something to your apartment."

Kaname's questions were cut off as she entered the studio apartment - it was almost completely bare, except for a futon, two chairs and a table. '_ok, this is getting weirder and weirder. In the movies, this is what the serial killer's apartment looks like'. _

The two teens helped Kyoko to the futon, where she collapsed. Kaname sat with her while she fell asleep. Sousuke meanwhile retreated to the other side of the room and pulled out his phone. When he did, Kaname quietly went to the kitchen and grabbed the one lonely knife from the utensil drawer. Then, holding it out of sight, she sat down at the table

"Ok, talk" demanded Kaname as she fidgeted in one of the barely functional chairs. She glared at Sousuke, who was having an urgent conversation on his cell phone.

Sousuke sat down opposite the free-spirited girl and put away his phone. '_She's really handling this well. I thought most civilian girls would collapse in a heap after a fire-fight. She's acting like a veteran soldier'_ For Sousuke, that was the highest possible compliment "Do you remember anything from your trip to Germany?"

Kaname looked surprised at the question, "yeah, I remember all of it, though the last few days are a little foggy. I must have been out of it."

"More than just that. You were kidnapped by a group of cultists. We think that they planned to use you as a human sacrifice. We aren't certain if we got all of them when we rescued you, so I was assigned to act as your bodyguard." Sousuke hated lying, and he was monumentally bad at it, but this was close enough to the truth, and Andrei had just coached him over the phone on what to say.

"What?" Kaname almost yelled, then she glanced at her sleeping friend and lowered her voice, "I can take care of myself. and who is this _we_ you keep mentioning?"

"I work for Mithril. And need I point out today's attack?"

Kaname sighed and thought rationally about what had happened, "I guess not. But what were those people? There was something wrong with them. And what was the deal with that voice?"

"What voice?"

"There was somebody telling those.. things what to do"

Sousuke grimaced in annoyance "I don't know anything about that. The whole situation is complicated, and I am not the best person to explain. I spoke to my commanding officer, and his orders were to bring you in to base if you had more questions"

"Why can't you explain? Don't you know?"

"I.." Sousuke looked embarrassed, "some of this stuff is pretty new to me as well. If I try to explain it, I may giving you erroneous information."

The two teens sat silently for some moments, before Kaname demanded, "So what do we do now? just sit here?"

"Yes. Base will send somebody to pick us up this evening." Sousuke reached into his pocket, "Cards?"

*KoM*KoM*

"So what's your plan after we get back?" Shirou asked quietly. He and Rin had lined up their sleeping bags between the rock and their car, so as to keep the wind off. It was still fairly early in the evening, but out away from human habitation, it was already full dark.

"I'll go back to my research, obviously" Rin replied.

"And joining me as a 'Hero for Justice' doesn't have any appeal?" Shirou asked with a smile.

"Frankly, no." Rin replied, carefully keeping the impassive expression that she had perfected in high school on her face. "We talked about this before, and I made it clear that risking your life like this is incredibly stupid. Do the people you help even realize what you are doing? It's a thankless job. And you know that in the end it will backfire on you, and make you into a bitter person."

"But I'm NOT following in Archer's footsteps. What he did wrong is he tried to help everybody on his own. But I learned from Arturia that nobody can do what we were trying to, not on their own. It takes a team. " Shirou replied vehemently. he didn't notice the way Rin flinched at the mention of Saber's name. "That is why I created Mithril. Together, we CAN accomplish something great."

"I.." Rin started then paused, "What's that?" she pointed to a faint glow coming from over a nearby ridge.

Shirou sat up, "Not certain. Let's go take a look"

The two magi quickly got their gear on and started up the ridge. They were almost all the way to the top when Shirou held out his hand in a 'stop' gesture.

He sniffed the air a couple of times, then leaned over to Rin and whispered, "There's a bounded field here. A subtle one"

Rin frowned, more at not having spotted the magic first than that it was there. she started muttering under her breath as she traced arcane gestures in the air. Small sparks flared from where her fingers paused.

After several minutes, she stopped and nodded authoritatively before turning to Shirou, "I opened a doorway. I don't think I triggered any alarms."

"lets go"

The two magi crept through the opening, being careful to stay close to the small scrub bushes growing on the ridge. As they did, they heard the sound of hammering and crashing, noises that the bounded field must have muted.

Shirou reinforced his eyes as they peered over the edge. At the bottom of the ravine, they saw what looked like a mine - there were a dozen ramshackle houses huddled around a larger building, all of which were next to several openings dug into the rock. the largest opening had tracks leading in.

As the pair watched, a group of workers mutely pushed a cart out from the mine along the tracks. Another group of workers finished dumping their buckets onto a pile of rock and headed back towards another opening. even at this time of night, the mine was busy. Standing guard over the workers were men in medieval european armor. Except the armor glowed with runes that were carved into it. Incongruously, most of them were carrying assault rifles.

It looked like some sort of slave labor camp.

"What are those?" Rin whispered.

"Second generation Arm Slaves, like what Sousuke wears, except his is a Third generation unit."

Rin glanced askance at Shirou, but decided to hold her questions for later. They watched the scene in front of them for some time. The workers continued to stagger through their jobs - they looked as worn as their threadbare clothes. Several more arm slaves came out of the large central building. "This looks professional. They have sentries, and some of those things are walking patrol." Rin turned to Shirou, "Do you think we can handle this on our own?"

"I don't know. Those are American models. They are pretty good. Let's do this the smart way." Shirou backed up down the ridge until he could stand up safely and then he and Rin made their way back to the car.

"Ok, talk!" Rin hissed, "What do you mean 'those look American'? since when do American's know anything about magic?"

Shirou smiled in a bemused fashion. "Rin, it's the 21st century do you think the major governments haven't noticed that something odd is going on around them? The Americans have known about magic for decades. In the 60's, they set up a magic research facility run by the NSA at something they call Area 51, in Nevada. Of course, being Americans, they believe in equality, so most of their magi are mediocre first generation people, without any family crests..

"But.. But the Mages Association will insist on declaring war on them!" Rin replied, aghast.

"That's why those of us who know about this don't TELL the Clocktower." Shirou replied in exasperation. "besides, the American's aren't exactly the only ones. the Chinese started their own magical department a couple of years ago. They would have been way ahead of the Americans, if Mao hadn't exterminated all the Chinese magi in the 50's. Though rumor has it many fled to Tibet." Shirou pulled out his cell phone, only to grimace when he realized that there was no reception. He popped the trunk of the car and rummaged around for something in his suitcase.

"Is that who you are planning to call? The Chinese Magic department or whatever they call themselves?"

"What? No - I'm going to call Kalinin, and have HIM negotiate a deal with the Chinese for Mithril to shut these guys down. He's much better at that sort of thing than me - I feel guilty about asking for money" Shirou shrugged in embarrassment.

"And if the Chinese are collaborating with the sealing designate?"

"Well, we'll find out, won't we?" smiled Shirou as he slapped a sigil carved plate onto the boulder next to them.

"Arg!" Rin sighed in exasperation at his casual attitude.

A reddish doorway opened into the rock.

"Coming?" asked Shirou.

*KoM*KoM*

Sousuke pulled out his phone and glanced at it momentarily. "Our ride is here. We are to meet them out back." he spoke in his usual no-nonsense manner.

"What about me?" asked Kyoko. The pig tailed girl had awoken, and was looking much better.

"You should head home" Sousuke replied.

WHACK

"What do you mean, 'just head home?' what if she gets attacked by those people?" Chidori stood leaning forwards aggressively, threatening Sousuke with her fan.

"Chidori, the attackers were after you. Kyoko should be perfectly safe."

"And how are you so certain of that?" Kaname was leaning into Sousuke personal space, and the sergeant was looking somewhat uncomfortable with the close female proximity.

"What's the alternative? I don't have clearance to bring her with us."

"Well, you best get clearance!" she snarled into his face.

"It doesn't work like that" Sousuke had a hard time concentrating with Kaname's lips, erg, face so close to his. '_She'd make a really good sergeant.'_

"It's ok, Kaname. I can walk home." Kyoko turned to Sousuke, "And I can call the police and tell them what happened.

"Go ahead, but I doubt it will do much good" Sousuke agreed, glad not to be the target of Kaname's wrath.

"Fine!" Chidori turned to her friend, "be careful, ok, and call the police if you see anything."

Kyoko nodded, "Are you certain you're ok going off with Sousuke like this?" she whispered

"So many weird things have happened to me lately - I want to find out what's going on." Kaname shrugged, "And Sousuke is' perfectly harmless."

"If you say so" Kaname replied skeptically, recalling Sousuke gunning down their attackers earlier.

Sousuke and Kaname exited the apartment building through the back door. The parking lot had a scattering of cars, but Sousuke led them over to a large clear area next to the dumpster. As the two teens approached, a ripple passed through the asphalt and a submarine's conning tower pushed up.

As Kaname stopped, her mouth hanging open in shock, Sousuke grabbed her and pulled her in through an open hatch. As soon as the two were on board, the Tuatha de Danaan sank back down, leaving just a few odd ripple marks on the parking lot asphalt to mark its passing.

"That was... that was.. what was that?" asked Chidori.

"That was pretty cool, huh?" asked a young man in an ensigns uniform. "That was the first time we did that for real, and it worked just like in the drills." He was beaming happily. "Nice to see you, sergeant Sagara." this was addressed to Sousuke

"Sergeant?" asked Kaname, realizing that she might be in over her head.

"Come this way, miss. The Director is waiting for you, and she will explain everything."

Kaname looked nervously at Sousuke.

"Go on. I'll help you with the ladder - it's a little steep." Sousuke replied, miss-reading the cause of the girl's anxiety.

Kaname made her way through the huge submarine, which had somehow traveled through solid earth to surface in a parking lot. Kaname's world view was so shattered that she didn't know what to expect next. She wouldn't have been surprised to see Sousuke and the ensign transform into some chittering otherworldly horrors. Well, not Sousuke he was too mild mannered to be scary.

Nevertheless, when Kaname stepped into the Director's cabin, she was expecting a solidly built middle aged woman, not a pretty young coed that looked barely older than her.

"Hi, you must be Kaname. Come in, please take a seat." Tessa stood up and greeted her visitors with a smile. "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, yes I would" Kaname replied decisively, grasping at the faint strands of normality like they were a life line. She sat down in one of the small couches that surrounded a low table. Everything looked more like a living room than an office.

Seeing the distress in the high schooler's eyes, Tessa turned to Sousuke, "please join us sergeant, you can help with the briefing."

Sousuke nodded, and took a parade rest position, standing next to Kaname's couch.

Once everybody was settled in, Tessa turned to Kaname, "welcome to the Tuatha de Danaan, ms. Chidori. I am Teletha Testarossa, Director of Applied Magical Research at Mithril, but please call me Tessa. I bet you have a lot of questions." her voice was gentle as always.

"Where are we?" demanded Chidori, "I know it looks like a submarine, but we're UNDERGROUND."

"Actually, we're not" replied Tessa, "We are traveling outside of reality. Just like a regular submarine goes under the surface of the ocean, we are traveling under the surface of the real world"

"How?" was all Kaname was able to get out.

"Magic" Tessa smiled, "I am the head of Applied Magic for Mithril." Seeing that Kaname wasn't able to form any coherent questions, Tessa continue, "Mithril is an organization dedicated to helping people and stopping menaces that nobody else can. For example, right now we are on our way to China. A rogue magus there has been enslaving villagers to use in his schemes, and we have been asked to put a stop to it."

Sousuke snapped to attention, "Sir, should I suit up for action?"

"In a bit, but we still have several hours of travel time" Tessa turned back to Chidori, "Just because we aren't traveling through our reality doesn't mean we can more around instantaneously"

"Why me?" asked Chidori finally,

Tessa related the events that had happened in Germany, finishing with, "And it seems like you have some connection to this magic. you said that you could hear a voice directing the enscrolled cultists"

"And I heard a voice directing the things that attacked my earlier today. And also several times in school." Kaname took a deep breath and asked, "were those . those people people that attacked.. people?"

"No, miss, they were zombies.": Sousuke replied in

"Ok, OK" Kaname stood up, "This is too much! zombies, wizards, flying submarines!" it's like something one of the video game Otakus at school would dream up!" she paced around the room looking overwhelmed.

"I think we'll stop here. I'll call somebody to take you to your room, and we can talk more later" Tessa smiled. The older woman's gentle manner, and the stolidity of Sousuke was all that kept Kaname from losing her sanity there and then.

*KoM*KoM*

"So how is our guest," asked Shirou. He was sitting with his top staff (and Rin) in his office on the Danaan.

"She's taking it as well as can be expected. I cast a small soothing charm on her and sent her to rest in her quarters for a bit." Tessa replied with a smile as she adjusted her braid.

Rin glanced at the expression on the silver haired woman's face and frowned.

"Ok, good" beamed Shirou. Tessa smiled back, Rin fumed.

"And what did the Chinese have to say?" Shirou asked, turning to Kalinin.

"I spoke to the regional governor, and the situation you came across was definitely NOT authorized by him. He says that they have had a large number of missing person cases recently, and this might explain them. He is willing to pay our usual rate to have us put a stop to it."

"Good!" Shirou smiled. He would have been willing to stop the rogue magus for free, but it was nice to get paid as well - operating Mithril was not cheap.

"Except he did have one condition." Andrei continued, "He wanted some of his people to observe. My guess at least one of them is a magus."

Rin was about to burst in with an angry refusal, when Shirou nodded "That's ok, we don't make any secret of how we operate"

"What?!" Rin exploded, "The Mage's Association.." she started, but was cut off by Kalinen

"We aren't the Mage's Association. And your precious Association doesn't seem to have noticed that the world is changing around them. Magi aren't being burnt at the stake anymore. they don't need to cower in the Clocktower for safety. As a matter of fact, there are probably more unregistered Magi than association members. And SOMEBODY has to deal with them"

"And that somebody is you?" demanded Rin.

"Yes"

Rin glanced at Shirou, to see acknowledgment in his face, "rogue Magi aren't the only thing Mithril deals with, but they ARE part of our mandate" he added quietly.

"And mundanes know about this?"

"Some do." Shirou replied, "Those that do mostly want to keep the existence of magic a secret as well, but its only a matter of time before the general populous learns about Magic."

"And that will be the end." Rin growled, "once everybody knows, the power of magic will dwindle"

"No it won't, Rin" Tessa interrupted, firmly, "The Clocktower's outdated Arias, all learned by rote, will weaken, but new innovation will keep magic alive. It's like music. Right now, we are all playing the same old classic music, with no true innovation. The fear is that if we have a bunch of amateurs start casting spells, the Arias will lose their power, just like music that is heard too often becomes dull and lifeless. But just as with music, some of those new practitioners will create completely new schools of magic. I have some theories on how to.."

"Bullshit!" Rin stood up angrily and stormed out of the office.

"Excuse me" Shirou stood up and followed her.

He found Rin standing, steaming, outside the office door.

"Rin, are you ok?"

"No, No I am NOT!" Rin was furious, "You are threatening to tear up the magical world, and you ask me if it's ok" She was practically quivering with anger. which for her was saying something - this was the woman who had created a completely false persona during high school.

"It won't 'tear up the magical world' as you say," Shirou sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, "It will just introduce change. I know the Mage's Association is scared of that, but you can only keep things frozen without change for so long. And you yourself have said that they need to evolve."

"But not like this!" Rin replied, then gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine, I will stay out of your way as you do your experiment, and you stay out of mine as I do mine."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Shirou asked cautiously.

"I think we need to take a break from each other" Rin replied, not looking at Shirou, "our interests are just too different" She lied with a straight face. She had a lot of experience at it, after all.

"Ok." Shirou replied, impassively.

"Ok" Rin didn't look at at Shirou.

"We can drop you off in Beijing." Shirou offered.

"Ok"

END

Some feedback would be appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

_'thoughts'_

"speech:

START

"Do I really need to wear this?" Shirou asked, pulling at the sleeves of his rune-enscribed uniform. He tugged a little harder than necessary. He did his best to project a calm, professional facade, but the anger and hurt was still there. But not surprise. Rin had been pushing him away for months now.

"I know you are very impressive, Shirou, but I don't want you taking unnecessary risks. You're an important person" Tessa smiled.

"But we don't have enough Arm Slaves for all the soldiers. If I went without..." Shirou started, to be interrupted by Tessa's quiet voice,

"All the front line soldiers have an Arm slave. And you need the communications array that is inscribed into it to be effective in command" Tessa carefully forgot to mention that she had inscribed several broaches with the communications runes, and that Kalinin had issued those to the soldiers without Arm slaves.

"Fine" smiled Shirou, "And thank you for taking such good care of me"

He turned to the other soldiers mustering up in the exit bay, so he missed Tessa's face light up at those words.

The Exit Bay was a large room at the back of the Tuatha de Danaan that had doors that could whisk open in a split second. Currently, it was filled with soldiers and support staff, as well as a few curious observers, including a pair of business suited Chinese and one Kaname Chidori, who was stand close to Sousuke.

"Ok, people, this is how it's going to go down." Shirou had already briefed the officers, but a little pep talk never hurt "Tiwaz & Haglaz squads are going to deploy from the Tuatha de Danaan when it surfaces inside the rogue's bounded field. Urzu will come out through the Reality Marble gateway with me and attack the rogues from the rear as they move to engage Tiwaz & Haglaz. Any questions?"

"No, sir!" chorused a dozen voices. each squad was made up of 4 soldiers - three with the Arm Slaves, and one specialist (though Shirou was planning to increase the squad size, he was still short on manpower). Most of the Arm Slaves lived up to their names, being full sets of armor based on the American design. The were rather restrictive, but the extra speed and protection made them worth the inconvenience.

Sousuke and Shirou were the only ones in the Third Generation Arm Slaves developed by Tessa.

"Ok, It's our turn first," Shirou turned to inspect Sgt. Mao and the rest of Urzu squad. McAllen and Melissa Mao were slaved to their full armor, but they had enough practice with it so that they were still able to handle their rifles with ease. The rifles themselves were based on American M-16, but twice as heavy, designed to pierce magical armor even with conventional ammunition.

The specialist, Kurz Weber, was a sniper. On the other two squads, the specialists were magi trained by Shirou in combat.

Shirou took another look _'Where's Sousuke.. ah'_ The fourth member of the squad was delayed as Kaname leaned in to say something to him. Sousuke nodded and joined his teammates. He was carrying what looked like a minigun from a helicopter. It was almost as big as he was, but with the enhancement of the strength runes on his Arm slave, he handles it like it was made out of paper-mache.

"Let's go." Shirou and Urzu squad burst from the Danaan, and the submarine disappeared under the ground moments after.

"Weapons up!" yelled Sgt. Mao as Urzu squad raced for the rise.

On the Tuatha de Danaan, the atmosphere was tense as the magical vehicle approached the main insertion point.

"Surfacing in ten seconds" came a voice over the loud speakers, "9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 , 3, 2, 1, GO!"

the exit bay doors yanked open, and the two squads raced out, rifles at the ready.

"Clear!" yelled the deck officer as soon as the lst soldier was out.

"DIVING" came the voice over the loud speaker. The Danaan, which had breached the surface moments ago, disappeared from view again. The whole procedure had taken seconds, like a whale that had come up for air.

*KoM*KoM*

Urzu squad raced across the broken ground, heading for the ridge that Rin and Shirou had visited earlier. They quickly left Kurz behind.

As the Arm Slaves approached the top, Kurz kneeled down and took a shot past them. The specially made bullet ripped ahead of the squad, hitting the bounded field. The field rippled and tore like a sail in a storm, spilling an oil-slick field of light in all directions. I siren sounded, an ear piercing howl warning that the boundary field was compromised.

The Arm Slaves leaped through, followed by Kurz, who dropped to the ground and started to set up his rifle.

Shirou led the rest of the squad down into the Ravine. The enemy Arm Slaves were all under cover, firing at the other two Mithril squads. It looked like a stalemate - the Mithril soldiers were outnumbered, but had superior training, preventing the enemy units from circle around them.

This all changed when Urzu arrived. The Arm Slaves just dropped 60 feet straight down, landing before the enemy soldiers even noticed them. As the enemy AS started to panic and tried to fight in two directions at once, Sousuke and Shirou darted forward. Sousuke opened fire with his chain gun, tearing through several enemy units.

Shirou took the Arm Slaves that were on the edge, next to the headquarters building. As they spun to confront their new enemy, a pair of ragged looking Chinese broadswords flew, spinning through the air towards them. One of the arm slaves managed to deflect most of the attack, but the other wasn't so lucky, taking the falchion square in the chest. The overloaded projection ripped through the armor, spraying metal in all directions as it shattered under the strain.

The Arm Slave that had survived was just bringing up his assault rifle up when Shirou's Durandel cleaved clean through him. Shirou slammed viscously into the body and yanked Durandel clear. As he turned to look for a new target, a bullet slammed into is shoulder, spinning him around.

_'Shit'_ Shirou spun around and dropped behind a jeep _'I've been letting my anger drive me. I need to pay more attention'_. He checked his shoulder – the AS was intact, though his shoulder hurt '_That's going to leave a bruise'. _"Trace on" He whispered and a bow and arrow materialized in is hands. He peered over the jeep – there was the arswipe that had shot him, darting behind a boulder. Shirou loaded the arrow with enough prana to 'break' it, and angled his bow up, arcing the arrow to land behind the rock that the enemy gunman was using for cover. When the arrow hit, it exploded like a hand grenade.

The villagers who had been doing the mining huddled against boulders and behind buildings, trying to stay out of the line of fire. Several of the braver ones made a run for it, down a dirt track that lead away from the mine.

The enemy Arm Slaves were having a bad time of it, as they were now caught in a crossfire from the Mithril units. One Arm Slave, apparently better trained than the rest, tried to circle behind Urzu squad, but Kurz dropped him before he could get very far.

As the enemy started to get more and more panicky, a rhythmic chanting sounded, and a black smoke poured forth from the headquarters building.

Shirou turned, projecting Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. Swinging the Japanese broadsword, he sent a blast of fiery wind into the building. The black smoke recoiled, but did not disperse. _'Not good'_ "Megumi-san, Arthur, I need containment on the main building" Shirou broadcast to the Tiwaz and Haglaz specialists.

At the same time, rubble that was piled off to one side of the mining camp began to shift.

The two magi ran up, though Megumi was holding her arm stiffly where an arm slave had clipped her. "What have we got?" Arthur was an exceptionally talented first generation Magus, about Shirou's age, while Megumi was several years older, and was from a magical family, but her specialty was oriental paper magic, which got her laughed at in the Clocktower.

"Not certain, but it's manifesting as black smoke. I can... what the?!" Shirou was interrupted as three twenty foot tall figures made of solid rock slowly arose from what he had previously assumed was just mine tailings. "Tiwaz, Halgaz, finish the Arm Slaves. Urzu, form up on me - we have golems!" This was not good - golems were notoriously hard to stop. They didn't have any vulnerable spots. Just rock and more rock.

As Urzu squad ran up to assist Shirou, the two magi began to chant arias. a faint blue circle appeared around the building, slowing the black smoke. At the same time, an endless stream of strips of paper flew out of Megumi's hands, creating a barrier over the windows and doors

As the first golem turned to face Shirou, the Faker General projected a bow and a Caliburn that was twisted into an arrow shape. The rest of the soldiers were dodging the blows of the golems, firing ineffectually at them as they took cover.

As the golem reached out to crush Shirou, Caliburn, the Sword in the Stone, punched through its chest, leaving a jagged hole in it's wake.

"Concentrate fire on the middle golem!" called out Sousuke

Facing the other two golems, the Urzu Arm slaves shifted position to follow Sousuke order and opened fire, sending rock chips flying. Sousuke's minigun ripped large chunks from the golem that he was confronting. The impacts staggered it, With that much firpower raining down on it, the creature was having a hard time keeping its balance. It's strikes were slow, giving the soldiers time to get out of the way

The last golem was taking only minimal damage, That is until Kurz put a silver jacketed iron bullet that had been ensorcelled to break enchantments into it's back. The left arm of the golem turned back to regular sandstone. As the monster tried to raise it for an attack, the pressure on the now mundane material was too much, and the arm shattered in a spray of rock and sand.

The chanting from the building became louder and more emphatic, and then cut off all together. Meanwhile, Shirou had managed to chop the leg off of one golem, while Urzu was in the process of reducing another to rubble. the one Kurz had shot was still standing, but it was having trouble moving - it just twitched and repeated the same motions over and over, like a robot with a crashed program.

All of the enemy Arm Slaves were down, despite their fighting to the last man.

"Tiwaz, check the enemy soldiers - they are probably ensorcelled, so they may attack even if badly injured. Halgaz, give Urzu a hand.. Kurz, keep an eye out for anybody sneaking out of the big building.

Shirou turned to the Magus specialists. "How are you holding up"

"Pretty good", answered Megumi, "I have the enemy conjuration contained. You can take Arthur if you need him to do some scrying" Her papers had forced their way into the building, and were smothering the black smoke in layer upon layer.

Arthur glanced at Shirou, and at Shirou's nod, dropped his spell. Taking a deep breath, he started another Aria. "There's nobody alive in the building" he finally replied.

"Tessa, can the Danaan check for underground passageways leading away from the main building?"

"Checking", came the reply "Yeah, sonar shows that there is one that appears to run straight under the ridge in front of you and before opening up about 300 yards away. I am surfacing to intercept."

The rest was just clean up: many of the villagers were dazed, though Arthur claimed that it wasn't magical - just plain shock. The Mithril Arm Slaves finished off the golems, and made sure that they wouldn't reanimate.

"Ok, lets see what's inside the building" Shirou and Megumi went in cautiously. The building was typical of it's kind - the front half was offices, and the back was a large garage area for doing repair work.

The magi slowly worked their way through the offices. Desks were turned over, papers were scattered everywhere, and chunks of black smoke lay wrapped up like paper-mache balloons. All very calm, almost incongruously so.

When they made it into the garage section, it was a different matter - there was a definite thrum of power pervading the air. Sealed globules of black smoke were everywhere, and an especially large one floated in front of a back-hoe, pulsing with purple and green light.

"I think that's the source" Megumi pointed at it. The two magi made their way towards the pulsing mass, going through a maze of parked excavating equipment. They had just gone around a bulldozer when an extremely ugly 3 foot tall creature stepped out and plunged a sword through Megumi's stomach.

Before it could pull the sword back out, Shirou's falchion came down in a diagonal slash, cleaving it in two.

"We need a medic in the garage, stat! Arthur - I need back up - Megumi is down!" Shirou yelled as he conjured a red limed black spear. As he transformed it into an arrow, the paper containing the black smoke began to fray, becoming old and ragged looking.

Shirou raised his bow and aimed at the heart of the glowing mass. Just as the black smoke burst forth, Shirou whispered "Gae Bolg!" and shot the noble phantasm at the heart of the spell.

CLANG.

It hit something solid, and the black smoke stopped moving, instead hanging lackadaisically in the air, even thinning a little.

Clunk.

Something dropped to the ground.

Shirou bent down to render aid to Megumi. Moments later Arthur ran in, and started a healing aria, covering the woman in a blue light. When the medic arrived, he switched to another spell, or tried to, but he stumbled over the words in his fatigue and the blue light disappeared.

Shirou projected Rule Breaker, and taking careful aim, threw it at the object that had fallen to the ground. On contact, there was a flash of light, and the black smoke vanished, revealing a large bronze scarab.

"GOT HIM!" came Tessa's exuberant voice "We surfaced behind him, and before he could recover from the shock of seeing a submarine rising out of the ground, one of our snipers took him out."

The medic who was working on Megumi turned to Shirou "I've stabilized her, but we need to med evac her asap."

"Tessa, can you bring the Danaan up inside the ravine? We have wounded."

"Oh" Tessa' voice lost some of jubilation, "No, not soon - The Tuatha de Danaan needs to turn around. Do you have enough prana to bring them through the reality Marble?"

"I think so" Shirou was not 100% certain that he did, but he wasn't going to let Megumi or any of his soldiers die if he could help it. "Surface the Danaan, and I will open a doorway." He then turned to the medic, "get a stretcher"

Shirou touched the transmission rune on his collar "Anybody who needs a med evac, meet up in the garage area."

"I am the bone of my sword" Shirou concentrated, so that he wouldn't slur any of the words. Arthur caught his shoulder when he started to sway. With a finally mental push, the doorway opened.

Soon, two wounded soldiers and Megumi (with her carriers) departed through the Reality Marble. With a sigh, Shirou released the spell. He then turned back to Arthur, who had been doing a magic inspection of the area.

"Ok, so what is this thing?" Shirou poked the cadaver of the short humanoid with his toe. "It's definitely not human"

Arthur nodded, "It looks like a goblin or a kobald - it's not from our reality. "

"Well, that explains what the Sealing Designate was doing here - both of those are subterranean races. He must have been creating an ideal environment for opening a doorway to an alternate reality.

*KoM*KoM*

Kaname wasn't certain what to think. Her world had been turned upside down: first being attacked by zombies on the way home from school. Then having a submarine surface in a parking lot, and now one of her classmates turned out to be an elite special forces soldier fighting for some organization. She wasn't clear what the fighting was about, something about hostages or slave labor or something. It had been a very long day.

"Excuse me, is Sousuke ok?" Kaname asked the silver haired woman. She was the most approachable of all the people on the Tuatha de Danaan, and it looked like the action was calming down, so Kaname saw an opportunity to ask after her classmate, who was her only link to her old life.

"Yes, Sgt. Sagara is fine" Tessa smiled, though it wasn't her usual smile, looking somewhat forced, "But there have been some injuries, so please stand aside here so that we can get them to the med bay quickly." As Tessa finished speaking, a dull red glow spread up from a mage's circle inscribed in the floor, on one side of the Exit bay.

Four soldiers staggered in, two of them carrying a stretcher with a fifth figure lying on it.

Kaname watched them race by in a fog. It didn't seem real. Magic. People fighting. People dying. And she still didn't know why she was here.

*KoM*KoM*

It was the evening on the following day. The Sealing Designate's laboratory had been secured, and the Chinese observers had been let off.

Shirou, Kalinin, Tessa, Kaname and Sousuke were all sitting in a briefing room, though Shirou looked exhausted to the point of collapse - between the fighting and the use of his Reality Marble, every last drop of his prana had been wrung out of him. He was half slumped, supporting himself by leaning his elbows heavily on the table.

"Ok, so what have we got here?" he asked, pointing to the bronze scarab.

"Arthur and I checked over this Mystic Code. It has a lot of characteristics in common with the grimoire from Germany. If I didn't know better, I would say that somebody is manufacturing these and handing them out." Tessa replied. She was sitting at Shirou's right side, and was looking with concern at him _'He needs to get some rest. he's going to hurt himself'_

"Kaname, does this scarab feel in any way familiar?' Tessa had briefed the high schooler on what had actually happened in Germany, so she knew as much as anybody else in the room, even if she didn't quite understand it.

"No, not really. But I keep getting this feeling, that I should pull on the scarab or something." Kaname glanced at Tessa, "Is that some sort of magic?"

"Yes, but more than that, you seem to have some connection to this" added Shirou.

"What IS this?" asked Kalinin, "It's starting to feel like we have come across something much bigger than a couple of magi gone bad. I wonder what the cult in Germany had been trying to accomplish"

Tessa shrugged, and replied, "I am not certain - there weren't enough clues. I'm sorry" She looked embarrassed not to be able to help more.

Kaname looked at the group of people assembled, '_they don't look like hardened mercenaries, well except Andrei Kalinin. Tessa looks too shy and demure to be an officer. And Shirou doesn't look much older, though he's a good leader. But they are Magi. who knows how old they are? Maybe they just make themselves look like teenagers, but they are actually really old?' _Kaname looked visibly disturbed by that thought, she turned to Sousuke, who was sitting stiffly next to her, and whispered, "You aren't a magus, are you?"

"No, ma'am" he replied, "Are you ok, Chidori-san, you look pale" he added. The other conversations paused as attention turned to Kaname.

"I.. I'm fine. It's just a lot to take in. and, the idea of wizards walking around, maybe shopping at the same store as me.. it's just so. so" She was at a loss for words.

"But, Chidori-san," replied Sousuke, his eyebrows beetling in confusion "You are a magus yourself."

"What?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention that?" asked Tessa with a gasp, "You are welcome to stay and I will train you in the basics of magic" Shirou nodded agreement

"No, I want to go back home, I have to go to school!" Kaname pronounced forcefully.

"We can't guarantee your safety if you do so," Kalinin replied.

"I don't care! I can't handle any more of this!"

There was a pause as they processed that statement, before Sousuke interrupted the silence, "Shirou-san, I can continue on as Chidori-san's bodyguard. She will be reasonably safe that way."

Shirou sighed,_ 'I am too tired to deal with all this. but we can't keep the girl as a prisoner. And I can understand Sousuke's desire to protect._' Shirou gave a small smile, _'he's a hero-in-training, after all'_

He paused to think, and then nodded to Sousuke "Ok, lets go with that."

"Are you certain we can afford to detach Sousuke for a long term project like this?" Asked Kalinin

"Mithril was founded to protect people. I think this exemplifies our mission pretty well." His words came out slurred from fatigue. "Let's call it a day. We can discuss the rest tomorrow" He stood up, wobbling, and if Tessa hadn't steadied him, would have tripped over his chair.

"I'll walk with you" She said quickly.

As the two walked out of the meeting room, Kaname ran up, "Um, Testarossa-san, uhm, about me being a mage.. is there any way I can come back and learn about that from you, maybe over summer break or something. I mean, I don't want to impose, but I really need to go home now.."

Shirou interrupted, "I can send Megumi to give you a crash course. She's going to be off her feet for a couple of months while she recovers, and this will help keep her from going stir crazy."

"Oh, ok. Thank you!" beamed Kaname, before heading back into the meeting room

"You are really are very good at helping people" Tessa smiled up at Shirou.

END

Next chapter, we will see Rin again, and get a peek into her cute little manipulative head. ie why did she dump Shirou

Also, a guest appearance by another Fate / Stay character.

As always, reviews are appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

Rin walked down the streets of Fuyuki City, heading for the Tohsaka mansion. She could have taken a cab, but it was a nice day, and the cool breeze helped her focus. As she turned onto the Tohsaka property, she felt the slight tingle of the bounded field.

She smiled, '_good to see that she's taking proper care of the place'._

When she reached the front door, Rin was not surprised that a matronly middle aged woman opened it before she had a chance to knock. The years (and crest worms) had not been kind to Sakura. Despite being several years younger than Rin, she looked more than a decade older.

"Rin! Come in, come in. It's been a long time" despite everything, Sakura still had a warm and cheerful disposition. "I was just sitting down to lunch. Do you want me to make you something?"

Rin smiled. Sakura was one only two people she could relax around. Her smile faded as she remembered who the other was. "No, thanks. I was just in the area, so I thought I would stop by. I haven't seen my favorite sister in over a year after all." She plastered her typical artificial smile back on her face.

"Well, we both have busy careers" Sakura shrugged apologetically as she led her older sister into the kitchen and poured her some coffee. After Rin had finally managed to extract the last of the crest worms several years ago, they hadn't seen much of each other. It was true: they both WERE busy. But there was also a tiny residue of resentment and guilt left behind from their teenage years, that despite their best efforts, still remained, and that had prevented them from drawing closer.

"I'm sorry" Rin hastily apologized, "I wasn't saying that that as a dig, I was just joking" _'I forgot how insecure she is about some things'_. "Anyway, how are you doing? Are you seeing anybody?" both women sat down at the table, and Sakura picked at her meal. If Rin didn't know better, she would have thought it was professionally made, but cooking was just a hobby for Sakura. Given that the meal wasn't laden with fattening food, her sister must be happy. Which was rare.

"Well.." Sakura looked down at her plate, "I've gotten back together with Gendo"

Rin quirked an eyebrow "Gendo Rokubungi? Your ex? I thought you said he was a controlling, manipulative asshole."

"No, you said that. And he's not an asshole. He's actually very sweet. He is a _little_ controlling, but it's only because he loves me." Sakura shrugged again, "Not everybody can find a Shirou"

Rin almost choked on her coffee, "Ah, about that... I broke up with Shirou."

"WHAT?" Sakura raised her voice for the first time in... ever, "Why? and when?"

"Ah, we broke up about two days ago" Rin's face fell again, "As to why... it just wouldn't have worked. I'm just the rebound girl."

"Rin, how exactly would it 'not have worked'? This is the guy you have been with since high school. And he still loves you, despite your, ahm, quirks."

"What quirks?" demanded Rin, slipping back into her competitive mode.

"Remember my two ex-husbands? The ones you proclaimed were assholes? _Those_ sort of quirks." Sakura said bluntly, as she bit down in a predatory way on a carrot.

"If I'm such a bitch, that proves my point. It's just a matter of time before he breaks up with me. So I might as well save myself the suspense and do it now." Rin said archly, with a haughty expression.

"Rin, don't be such a prima donna. DESPITE your quirks, Shirou hasn't so much as looked at another woman since you got together." Sakura replied with a sigh, _'Every conversation is a power game with Rin. I don't understand how Shirou tolerate it.'_

"What about that Luvia cow?" Rin countered, her tone almost playful.

"Rin, I visited back when you were all studying at the Clocktower. Shirou didn't know that she even existed. The whole rivalry thing was all in your head."

Rin sighed and put her head in he hands before looking up at her sister, no longer trying to put on a mask.

"And what about Arturia? Are you going to tell me that he didn't love her? He went back in time to rescue her. He broke HALF THE FUCKING LAWS OF MAGIC for her." Rin's voice rose until she was almost yelling.

Sakura recoiled in surprise. Rin never, ever lost it. "Rin, She's dead. you can't let Shirou's past relationship poison what you have."

"So what?" demanded Rin, "So she's dead. She was dead the first time Shirou fell in love with her during the Grail War. She was dead when he went back in time to rescue her at Camlann. This is GOD DAMN Shirou we are talking about, a man whose vision of how things SHOULD be is so strong that it distorts the very fabric of the universe itself. That's what it means to have a Reality Marble." Rin dropped her face back into her hands. "I don't know how, but it's only a matter of time before she returns to him. My guess - she has reincarnated as a beautiful woman who is now scouring the globe for her Shirou" Rin gave a sardonic smile.

"I.." Sakura was at loss for words. She leaned over and gave Rin a hug as the older girl cried quietly.

"I'm just so tired of always fighting to keep his attention. I .. And I don't even know who I am fighting against. All I know is that in the end it will be futile." Rin sobbed.

After a couple of minutes, Sakura asked "You want some more coffee?"

Rin nodded without raising her head, wiping tears of her face when Sakura wasn't looking.

*KoM*KoM*

"That went well" Smiled Andrei as he stood in front of the map of China. The Director of Operations was a very reserved man, so for him, this was a strong display of exuberance.

"Are you referring to the mission, or the contacts we made in the Chinese Ministry of Special Projects?" Shirou walked up to him to copy some notes from a piece of scrap paper he was holding onto the map. The two were in Kalinin's office.

"Why, both of course." Kalinin paused, "though not everything went so smoothly for you. What happened with Ms. Tohsaka?"

Shirou sighed, "Rin broke up with me."

"May I ask why?" Like all of the people working for Mithril, Kalinin had formed a strong relationship with Shirou, though his had taken on an odd tone, as he seemed to see himself as surrogate father figure for his commanding officer.

"Rin... Rin had a difficult childhood. She grew up alone - her parents died when she was young, and her memory of them was mostly that they wanted her to excel. Her guardian was a sociopath who's only interest was that she complete her education. So it's not too surprising that the only thing that gave her life meaning was being the best student, the best magus, that she could be. And I guess," Shirou took a ragged breath, "I guess between working on her research and being with me, I lost." Shirou shrugged, and smiled apologetically for being so open. He didn't want to burden anybody with his problems, but Andrei had asked.

"You don't seem very upset"

"I will admit that it is not.. pleasant." Shirou stated in manly understatement, "But I've been expecting this. She's been pushing me away for some time now."

"Well, I am sorry to hear of you troubles, but there are other good women out there, and some are closer than you may think" Kalinin slapped Shirou on the back before turning to his work.

Shirou nodded and also turned to the map, "That makes the fourth sighting of the black smoke spewing Mystic Codes, fifth if we believe that report in the New York Post."

"And if they are anything like the scarab, they are designed to help in the opening of dimensional portals." added Tessa as she walked into the room and handed her report to Shirou, "The question is why?"

"We have one more lead - the Sasquatch sightings in eastern USA" Andrei reminded the others.

"Yeah, lets go take a look at that. We're going to be liaising with Area 51 for this?"

Kalinin nodded "They asked us for help. Camera traps have gotten a couple of hazy photos, but the US mages weren't able to find the critters."

"Sasquatch have some sort of anti-detection magic" Tessa explained, "Makes it hard for even a trained magus to spot them."

*KoM*KoM*

Chidori walked home from school. It was amazing how good it felt to be doing something so normal after the insanity of the past week. And the fact that she was walking with a cute guy who had seemed to like her was even better, _'though Sousuke's social skills could use a little work'_. She smiled, "Sousuke, how did you get involved with Mithril anyway?"

Sgt. Sagara, who had been silently scanning the the street for any dangers the whole way from school, replied without looking, "When I was eight years old, my family was attacked by a Dead Apostle and his zombies." Sousuke noted Kaname's blank look and explained, "a Dead Apostle is what you would call a vampire, though the vampires in stories are a little different from the reality." Sousuke paused to take a closer look at a businessman coming toward them from across the street. 'Not a threat' "I don't know why, maybe the creature was hungry, or maybe it was after somebody else in the apartment building, but the end result was that they killed everybody in the whole place. I was hiding under a bed when there was a loud crash, and two people burst into the room - it was a man wielding a sword and a woman in pigtails throwing spells around. The man - Shirou took out the majority of the undead while Rin covered his back and made sure that nothing blind-sided him."

Chidori was appalled at this tale, but Sousuke recited it in his usual matter of fact tone, as if making a report. "After that, I lived with Rin and Shirou for a couple of weeks while they tried to find any of my surviving relatives. I was very impressed by Shirou, and I decided that I would grow up to be a hero like him." Sousuke smiled.

"In the end, they weren't able to find anybody, and so Rin took me down to the local Children's Services office. They expected I would end up in an orphanage, but that same day, I was transfered to Area 51 - the American magical research initiative. I don't know why. maybe because I already knew about the magic world." Sousuke shrugged, "They had me train with the Arm Slave prototypes. They gave me military training as well, so that I could better test them. And when I showed an aptitude, they ran me through the special forces class."

"But that's horrible! you were just a child!' Kaname was appalled.

Sousuke shrugged, as if to say that he didn't understand what all the fuss was about, "That's what Shirou said too, when I ran into him last year on a job. He got really upset, yelled at my boss, saying things about child soldiers and stuff. In the end he took me on as his apprentice."

"But you're still a soldier" replied Kaname

"Shirou says I am an apprentice hero," Sousuke said with a smile, "But yeah, in actuality I'm a soldier. What else would I be?" Sousuke asked, puzzled, "But I like working for Mithril. Shirou makes everybody feel like they are important. For him, I'm not just a weapon."

*KoM*KoM*

Special agent O'Malley was having a hard time treating the two teenagers sitting opposite him seriously, '_these kids are the magic experts that dr. Rensfield called in?'_ He was sitting opposite Shirou and Tessa at a diner in Palmer Ma, right on the edge of the Berkshires, where the 'non-human sapients (magical origin)' had been spotted. Both were dressed casually, so as to fit in with the locals, though Tessa would catch the eye of any males no matter what. '_They look like a college couple'._ He pushed a folder over the table towards the man, Shirou. "This all we have so far: it's a set of photos, with a list of times and places they were taken. They mostly came from game cameras set up by hunters."

"Hmm," Shirou glanced through the folder before pushing it over to Tessa, "Ok. that will give us a starting point. It will take us a couple of days to track them down"

Special Agent O'Malley quirked an eyebrow, "You think you can find them in a couple of days? We've been trying to find these guys for a couple of months!"

Shirou nodded once, "You are currently wearing a charm to prevent scrying, and you have been warded against hypnotism. You were working with fire magics recently, probably in the past two days. Given the focus of Area 51, it was most likely a weaponized spell."

"Huh."

Shirou didn't look like a teenager anymore. Not when he stopped smiling, and to O'Malley's eyes, Tessa now had a Fae look.

"Well, I guess I'll leave it to the two of you. You have my cell number" He smiled, _'so maybe they DO know what they are doing.'_

*KoM*KoM*

The two mages adjusted their back packs and walked out of the diner into the afternoon sun. Palmer was a vacation town surrounded by heavily forested hills, and trees, like fingers of some primeval forest, reached everywhere. "Was that necessary?" asked Tessa, "It was kind of.. I don't know, it felt like showing off."

Shirou took a pull on his soda before tossing it into a sidewalk trash bin. "We had to establish credibility. I don't much like having to do it either." Shirou sighed as he glanced down at the GPS that he had programmed with their first destination. "Since I got started with Mithril, I've learned that a lot of leadership has to do with appearances. I never misrepresent myself, but I make sure that the customer sees me the way I want to be perceived."

Tessa looked surprised, "I didn't think you worried about such things."

Shirou grimaced, "I hate doing it, but I have to. Otherwise, I'll end up misunderstood and cut off from any support," _'like a certain idiot',_ Shirou remembered what he had learned about Archer. "Come on, we have a lot of walking ahead of us"

The two magi turned off of the sidewalk and into the woods. According to the GPS, it was an hour hike to the first camera. The walk was easy, though several time Tessa lost her balance and caught herself on Shirou's arm.

"You know, you should have worn hiking boots" Shirou commented gently.

"In retrospect, that would have been a good idea," Tessa smiled at Shirou, "But I've never gone hiking before."

"Never?" Shirou asked, somewhat surprised. In his line of work, he had been called on to scour barren areas, looking for hiding Dead Apostles and rogue magi fairly often.

"I didn't have much time for that sort of thing when I was at the Clocktower, and I grew up in a very suburban town. We had sidewalks."

"ooh, what an innovation."

Tessa looked sharply at Shirou, not certain if he was teasing her.

"Sorry about that. In retrospect, I didn't do much hiking either when I was your age. I grew up in a city. The first time I went into the wilderness was..." Shirou's voice drifted off _'when I went back to Arturia's time. But I can't speak about that' _"was much later. Sorry about that, but some of my misadventures have to stay private" Shirou, as usual, had no clue what effect playing the 'Mysterious Hero' card would have on the young woman walking with him. "So, tell me about your apprenticeship. Waver Velvet seems like a good magus and a great guy."

"He is that." Tessa replied, "Most of the established Magi wanted nothing to do with a first generation apprentice. Nearly all the offers I got were from struggling magi or hacks that wanted somebody to do all their work for them. But Dr. Waver took me on and supported my research ideas. He believes that talent is more important than the number of magical circuits that you have."

"And you certainly have a lot of talent" smiled Shirou.

"No.. I mean, I didn't mean it like that!" stammered Tessa, "So, tell me about your apprenticeship. you never joined the Magus association, right?"

Shirou let the embarrassed woman change the topic, "yeah, I didn't pass the entrance exam. but that's ok - I'm only good at a couple of fields of magic, and they aren't part of the Clocktower core curriculum, so I didn't miss out on much" _'And I didn't want those slimy bastards getting their claws into me'_ Shirou had learned about his fathers experience with the Clocktower, and that, as well as how the treated Rin, had left a bad taste in his mouth.

"So you studied with um, Ms. Tohsaka" Tessa interrupted Shirou's thoughts. Shirou didn't notice the catch in her voice as she said Rin's name.

"Yeah, Rin tutored me in the basics." Shirou's' voice became colder and he picked up his pace, as if to walk away from an unpleasant topic.

*KoM*KoM*

Some time later, as the pair approached the first camera trap, Tessa asked, "Do you think the Sasquatch are going to get violent?"

"I doubt it - most of them are pacifists. But just in case, we will try to avoid surprising them. Shirou took a deep sniff. His ability to detect magic came as a smell. "I think there is something, but it's hard to tell - Sasquatch magic blends in with the natural prana of the forest.

Tessa nodded, "well, that's what I am here for." she started drawing a mage's circle in the dirt of a small clearing. It was a small affair, all of 5 feet across, and the symbols were fairly crude, but for this spell, that was actually a plus.

Tessa started chanting an Aria in Chinese, and it rose and fell musically

_'huh. most of her spells are in German or Latin. I wonder how many languages she knows.' _Shirou was impressed.

Tessa slowly turned in a circle with her eyes closed before opening them and starting off into the woods at a brisk walk. Where she promptly tripped over a root, and would have hit face first if Shirou hadn't caught her.

She nodded her thanks, but she still had a far-away look as she concentrated on the spell.

The two continued this way for the rest of the afternoon. It was starting to get dark when Tessa finally spoke, "They are about 100 yard straight ahead. They probably know that we are here"

Shirou carefully took out an origami paper crane from a metal box that had been in his backpack. "Here goes nothing". He held it out so that Tessa could help hold it. Shirou and Tessa slowly intoned an aria together. The paper crane twitched and flapped its wings before turning its head towards them. The two magi gently threw it into the air, in the direction of the Sasquatchs. the paper crane flapped its wings and flew.

Then, they waited. "Are you certain that they are going to be interested in an animated toy?" Shirou asked, skeptically.

Tessa sighed in exasperation, _'NOW he gets nervous?'_ "It's not just animated. We imbued it with real life, if only for a few minutes, and according to all that I have read, they are fascinated by life magic."

It was another ten minutes before a small bush in front of them shivered, and a creature that should not have been able to hide behind it stepped out.

It was a 7 foot tall humanoid, skinny, with a vaguely human face. And it had fur, thick fur, all over.

Tessa unrolled a piece of parchment and wrote something on it, intoning a quiet Aria. The Sasquatch stood quietly, not looking at her. It kept its eyes on Shirou instead.

Tessa finished and gave the scroll and a pen to the creature, a look of concentration on her face as she maintained this new spell. It glanced down at the writing, and it was apparently able to read it. It daintily took the pen and wrote a response

Tessa looked down at the scroll. It said 'We will speak to you. but your mate must step away. he smells of metal and fire.' she blushed, especially a Shirou was reading it over her shoulder.

"Ok, I'll be over there" he walked ten feet away and leaned against a tree, making sure that he had a clear view of Tessa, just in case.

Tessa and the Sasquatch continued communicating through the translation scroll. It was an odd sight, seeing such a large, hairy creature handling a pen with such precision.

After several minutes, Tessa called out, "Hrm'nan says that she and her mate are here in our world by accident - they stepped through some sort of passageway - I'm not exactly clear on what it was, but instead of going where it should have, it opened up into here. They would very much like to go home."

"Do you think you will be able to detect the portal they came out of?" Shirou replied, trying not to spook the large creature.

"Probably, but not right now. I'm exhausted. This spell really takes it out of you."

"In that case, we can camp out here, and we will search in the morning."

"Ok, I will explain this to Hrm'nan." More writing back and forth. Tessa was starting to sway in exhaustion. Shirou just caught her before she fell down. Hrm'nun disappeared as if into thin air as soon as Shirou took a step forwards.

"My turn to help you." Shirou said, as he helped the exhausted magus sit down on a root. "I'll make camp."

*KoM*KoM*

If Tessa wasn't so exhausted, she would have been mortified. She was lying in a sleeping bag, just a few feet away from an attractive man, all alone in the woods (well, the Sasquatch were somewhere out there, but they didn't make very good chaperones).

"Tessa?" called out Shirou from the darkness, "You did good work. I am very impressed"

Tessa blushed. "Uhm, thank you, Shirou-san."

Shirou laughed, misunderstanding the source of Tessa's embarrassment "Relax, and don't be so modest. Maybe the Mage's Association doesn't appreciate talent, but I do"

"Ok, Shirou" Tessa whispered. This was.. this was nearly perfect. If they had a campfire and warm food, it would have been like a dream, but they couldn't risk offending the Sasquatchs, so they had made do with a cold camp.

*KoM*KoM*

Returning the Sasquatch to their home turned out to be a fairly simple procedure. With both Tessa and Shirou searching, they were able to find the remnant of the portal that had brought them to earth by lunch time. And they were in luck - it was still operational, though very faded, so with the the application of a little prana, they were able to re-open it enough for the stranded travelers to return from whence they had come


	6. Chapter 6

Two months later

Shirou jumped off the building, firing an arrow at the hellhound as he fell. He landed with a thump, as his Arm Slave absorbed the shock of the fifty foot fall. It was night out, and this part of the city (consisting of mostly warehouses) typically would be quiet, but right now there was the wail of sirens and the thrum of helicopter blades.

"Regroup on my flank" he yelled out as the hellhound shook itself and got back up. '_This is a mess'_ Shirou stepped between it and the two cops that been watching this door of the abandoned factory. They hunkered down behind a pair of trash bins, but they couldn't take a shot as Shirou was now in the way. And honestly, they weren't certain if their bullets were doing any good against the six foot tall monstrosity with the glowing red maw. This was way, way past anything they had trained for in the police academy.

The hellhound leaped forward. Shirou traced Durandel and stepped in and to the left with his left foot, at the same time bringing the sword's hilt up for a roof block. The hound slammed into the sword and slid off. Its hide must have been as strong as armor, for it only received a thin cut.

Shirou finished stepping leftwards, and swung his sword up and around for a downward strike. The hellhound had just started to turn towards him when the blow took off its head.

The police officers were stunned by the inhuman speed displayed by both combatants.

There was a tearing noise from inside the factory, followed by semi-automatic fire. "Stay here and call for backup - you don't have the equipment to deal with this" Shirou barked, '_or the training'_ he added silently before darting towards the busted door leading into the factory.

Inside, all was in chaos. He saw a pair of Mithril Arm Slaves fighting another hellhound. There were tendrils of solid black smote reaching for them as well. In the background, there was a pervasive chanting, audible despite all the noise.

Shirou sliced the black tendril with Kusanagi before rushing towards where he thought the sound was coming from. It was hard to tell, for the sound echoed, and abandoned manufacturing machinery cluttered the floor. He glanced up to the catwalk that ran along the outer wall, only to see Sousuke fighting off three humanoid *things* - they had too many mouths, and it was hard to tell which body part was which.

Shirou leaped up behind the creatures and sliced one in half. The other two were momentarily surprised, letting Sousuke blast one apart. Before the last creature could do anything, Shirou's return stroke split it in two.

"Sir, these things are coming from over there" Sousuke reported, pointing towards a second floor that covered only a quarter of the factory. It was covered in a shimmering curtain of black. The catwalk went straight to it, but there were several more abominations shambling toward them along it, as well as at least one hellhound.

Shirou tapped his collar "Tiwaz 1 to Urzu 2. I need starlight on my mark"

"Starlight confirmed" came a tiny voice in Shirou's ear. In the background, there was the roar of a helicopter.

"Cover me" Shirou pulled prana through his circuits and took a deep breath. Sousuke moved to place himself between his leader and the incoming monstrosities.

"Trace on"

A bow and arrow appeared in his hands.

He aimed the arrow at the second floor area and fired.

"Mark!" he yelled

The arrow flashed through the air and struck the black curtain, exploding into a ball of fire. The curtain rippled, but it was still there.

"Mark confirmed" came the voice in Shirou's ear. Now the ratcheting of the helicopter blades was even louder.

Moments later, there was the roar of a chain gun. The bullets streaked out silver, as each one had been blessed as a holy weapon (for a fee) by a contact in the Church. Magically speaking, each bullet was weak, but having almost a thousand rounds slam into the same spot was enough to make the black curtain collapse. The bullets chewed through the magic circle hidden inside, and through several cultists.

The dark abominations flickered.

They roared in panic.

Then they winked out.

*KoM*KoM*

Andrei sat at his desk and rubbed his temples, "so what is the connection here? One: we have a bunch of black smoke Mystic Codes scattered around the world. Two: we have a rash of interdimensional rifts. Three: we have an uptick in rogue cults."

"One and three may be linked" replied Shirou.

"Yes, but how? Is there a global conspiracy that is using these Mystic Code? Is somebody selling them on eBay? And why the dimensional rifts?" Andrei sighed in frustration before reaching for his coffee mug.

Shirou rubbed his head, "We keep stopping these things, but I feel like we are missing the big picture."

"It may be the dimensional rifts are an accident - cults often try to get magical power by striking a deal with some other dimensional entity" replied Tessa. She was sitting very stiffly, having made sure that her chair was far enough away from Shirou so that everything was proper. But not TOO far away. So that nobody thought she was inappropriately close. But it was ok if Shirou knew she was close by. Not that he noticed, being the oblivious sort. It was hard to keep her mind focused lately.

"We need more information" replied Shirou. "We are missing something, something important. I feel like we are winning the battles but losing the war." He sighed and leaned back in his chair "I'll get in touch with some friends in the Clocktower."

"Good idea, I'll go with you, I mean, I can ask Waver-san if he has heard anything"

*KoM*KoM*

Rin was trying to get some research done, but she kept remembering the the meeting she had had earlier that morning. _'Two hours wasted listening to that ass-wipe Dewhurst explain prana transfusion as if he had invented it. And he barely understood it - most of 'his' research on it was actually done by his apprentice'_ Rin took a deep breath. She needed to be calm - carving gems was delicate work, and anger made her hands tense up. She reached for her polishing pad when..

knock, knock

came from the door,_ 'Whoever that is, I'm going to rip them a second, no a third asshole!'_. "Come in" Rin called out sweetly.

"Hi, Rin" The Tohsaka's mouth had just opened to make a cutting remark when Shirou walked in.

"You? What are you doing here?" Her expression was confused, as her brain had ground to a full stop, letting the mouth fend for itself.

"Well," Shirou rubbed the back of his head, "I thought I would stop by and see how you were doing." As Rin opened her mouth to say something (even she wasn't certain what), he quickly continued, "I'm not trying to get back together. I understand that that's done, but we have been friends a long time" He shrugged sheepishly, "I don't see why that has to end" He finished, not looking at the young woman in front of him.

"Uhm," Rin's brain was like a hamster on a wheel, spinning and spinning, but not going anywhere _'go away! I wanted you out. So I won't have to deal with you leaving'_ "ok," she said, "you want some tea?"

They sat down and talked, mostly about Shirou's recent adventures, though Rin snuck in some complaints about the Clocktower. It was both incredibly awkward and kind of nice.

"I'm really sorry for breaking up with you just before a mission, I'm glad that the Chinese affair went smoothly" Rin finally managed to push the apology out.

"It's ok" Shirou smiled, "You've never done things half way. It's who you are."

_'Thanks for making me feel like an even bigger shit'_ Rin smiled, pretending to be pleased that Shirou wasn't angry. "So, I know my company is scintillating, but what really brought you to London?"

"Am I that transparent?" sighed Shirou.

_'Duh. Yes'_ "No, of course not, but we've been... I mean, I know you pretty well" Rin smiled weakly as she got up to tidy up some papers on her desk.

"Well, we have been noticing some odd trends, and I was wondering if the Clocktower might know something about them" Shirou related what they knew of the Mystic Codes and the interdimensional rifts.

Rin shook her head, "I haven't heard anything, but I'm not really in the loop for this sort of thing - I have been trying to get some research done these past few months. You should ask Waver-san. He's on the Aberrant Magic committee. He may have something."

"Yeah." Shirou nodded in agreement "Tessa is having lunch with him today"

Something in Rin's chest froze, "So she came to London with you? Are you and Tessa dating now?" She asked casually.

"What?" Shirou looked up in surprise from his tea, "Of course not - she works for me!" He stared at Rin as if to read her mind through shear force of will. Rin continued to putter with her desk, not meeting his gaze, "Besides, I don't think I am ready for a new relationship as yet." he added, his voice turning bitter for the first time. He stood up. "I'll see you later"

Shirou was just stepping out the door when Rin called out after him, "Hey, Shirou - If you need any help sometime, call me, ok?"

*KoM*KoM*

The room was dank. It smelled of rot and damp, and small... things moved along the floor. There was no source of light, but a dull purple glow slowly throbbed, in time with the broken old man's chanting.

Slowly, a vertical tear in space started to pull open, millimeter by millimeter. The edges crinkled up, in an almost vulgar way. More light spilled in, but the room got no brighter.

*KoM*KoM*

A month later:

Kaname rubbed hear head, it felt like somebody was pounding on it rhythmically. "Megumi-sempai, is there any magic for treating headaches?" she asked. The two of them were sitting seiza style in her living room, as the older magus drilled Chidori in some basic exercises.

Megumi smiled, "yes, but aspirin works better. Why don't we call it a day - You have really progressed a lot." _'I'm going to have to wind up these these lessons soon - I really should return to active duty'_ she sighed. The paper magus was mostly healed, but she was enjoying teaching. She watched as Chidori bounced to her feet and went to the medicine cabinet.

"I thought my penmanship was good, but it's really hard to write when you are visualizing three things at once" From her tone, it was clear that Kaname wasn't intending that as a complaint, but more to show that she was impressed with Megumi's skill.

The Mithril magus waved the compliment away as she glanced out the window "Are you going out this evening?"

"Yeah, I was going go out for dinner with some friends"

"Hmm. I think Sousuke-kun just came into the building."

"Well, he is my bodyguard, and Mithril doesn't want me going anywhere without him, so.." Kaname quickly blurted out, when Megumi interrupted

"And he's kind of cute"

Kaname blushed, "Uhm, yeah, he is" Then she looked up, annoyed at having made that admission, "But we aren't like that! He's way too dense!"

"I could order him to ask you out." Megumi teased.

"No!" Spluttered Chidori, "and that isn't what I meant, I mean he's too dense to ask out!" She was saved from digging herself a deeper hole by a knock at the door.

"Come in" As Sousuke came in, he found himself on the receiving end of a death glare. But before Kaname could say anything, she clutched her head with a gasp, and slid to the floor.

*KoM*KoM*

"I don't know what's going on" Megumi spoke into her cell phone, "She just collapsed, and now all her mage circuits activated. She is leaking prana, and her body is starting to overheat. We need to get her to Tessa fast."

She was crouching next to Chidori, who was stretched out on the floor. A visible red glow was rise off of her, like a mist, before drifting off to one side. _'Dammit, This isn't supposed to happen! None of my bounded fields detected ANYTHING!_' It wasn't just a matter of professional pride - she liked Chidori. She had a bubbly personality, and Megumi had been enjoying watching her blossoming romance with Sgt. thick-head. Sousuke was sitting next to her with a bowl of water and mopping her brow with a wet rag. He looked completely out of his depth.

"Ok," Megumi turned to Sousuke, "Do you have any of Emiya-san's sigils?

The boy nodded, before slapping one onto the wall.

A few minutes later, a door appeared, opening to reveal Shirou. "Come on. I can't hold this for very long. The Tuatha de Danaan is at the edge of my range" He helped Sousuke scoop up the incapacitated woman and, followed by Megumi, entered his reality marble.

As they staggered across the alien landscape, the mist that had been rising from Chidori started to drift randomly. But as soon as the party staggered out through the door at the other side, and back into the real world, the mist began to drift eastward.

"What's the deal with the mist" Shirou asked as he helped lower the woman onto the hospital bed.

"It's her prana bleeding off." Megumi replied.

"I've never seen anything like this." added Tessa as she started a binding spell to try to stop the prana bleed. After several tense minutes, the glow faded, and Chidori's temperature dropped back to a more normal range. Tessa slumped into a chair.

"It almost looked like she was being attacked by something that was draining her life force, " Megumi finally said.

"But how could it be affecting her at such a long distance? We just carried her hundreds of miles away from Japan. And why aren't we being hit by this?" Shirou asked.

"I don't know" Tessa was obviously distraught, "let me think" As she sat down, Megumi took a moment to inspect the binding on Chidori. "She looks better, but her prana is still leaking a little. and it's all drifting in the same direction. Do you think that it's pointing to the source of the attack"

Shirou scratched the back of his head, "I have no idea. I think we need to bring up some more magical assistance" He walked over to the intercom and pressed a button, "Captain, at your earliest convenience, please surface - I need to make an urgent call."

*KoM*KoM*

"And I finally managed to finagle an office next to my lab!" crowed Rin as she led Sakura into the closet sized room. It had just enough space for three book cases, a desk and chair. There was no room for a tea service or a fold away bed. Which was unfortunate, since she now WAS spending almost all her time in the lab for real.

"I'm sorry Onee-san, but it looks like this office is a step down from your last one," Sakura replied, in mild confusion.

"It's all about location! Who needs all that space if it takes forever to get to to your lab?" Rin didn't mention that walking into her old lab always hit her with a wall of melancholy memories of Shirou. "Anyway, let's go grab some coffee and donuts!"

"I'll take the coffee, but I'm on a diet" smiled Sakura.

"Oh, trying to look good for somebody?" asked Rin with a smirk. Now that she was paying attention, her sister had lost a little weight, and looked a lot better for it.

"Gendo Rokubungi" replied Sakura, blushing.

"You're still with him? Are you two serious again?" Rin asked incredulously, just barely avoiding putting her foot in her mouth.

"I think so. He's so busy with his work, and I am a lot more cautious than the first time around, but..." she shrugged "Maybe you should find yourself somebody new as well." she finished.

"What? What makes you think I haven't?" Rin replied.

Sakura gently poked Rin's side, where her blouse was strained tighter than it should be, "Too many donuts?"

Rin sighed, "I don't have time to cook, so I'm eating a lot more junk food." She led the two of them out of her office and towards the stairs.

"You never got fat eating Shirou's cooking" Sakura prodded.

"Oh, will you get over that!" Rin snapped, "That's done and over with". RING RING RING. Rin's ringtone sounded like a 1940's telephone. She sighed and rolled her eyes, "let me get this" She put the cell phone to her ear "Hello? Oh." She stopped in surprise, "Ok, I'll be there. Sakura is visiting me, I'll bring her as well."

"Who was that?" asked the woman in question.

"That was Shirou, he needs help." Rin replied as she pulled her sister towards the exit.

Sakura snorted

"It's not like that! I just promised to help him with any magical problem that came up as an apology for running out on him last time. We need to get a cab to Clapham common." Rin held the door for the (technically) younger woman, "Come ON. Stop dawdling!" she snarled.

*KoM*KoM*

"That was one of the more surreal things I have ever seen" Sakura commented as she and Rin walked towards the Tuatha de Danaan's med bay. She was referring to the sight of the submarine's conning tower surfacing behind a stand of oaks in the park.

"You get used to it" Replied the other Tohsaka, acting the part of the more worldly older sister (which, regrettably, she was getting fewer and fewer opportunities to do).

The med bay was crowded, with Megumi and Tessa busily trying to diagnose what was wrong with the stricken teenager, while Sousuke sat stiffly on a metal chair, trying to pretend that he wasn't on tenterhooks. Shirou had stepped out of the room, to give the professionals more room.

Rin and her sister quickly took over: Sakura had specialized in healing magics, and Rin, having designed the ritual to purge Sakura's crest worms, was well read on possession and other internal magical afflictions.

"There are no foreign magics in her. I think instead it's the other way around - Kaname has been sucked into some sort of magical ritual, and part of her is trapped in a spell." Sakura pronounced, wiping the sweat of her brow with a lace handkerchief.

Rin nodded, "It may be there was some residual connection to that ritual back in Germany. And if the magus who designed it cast a similar spell, she could have been sucked in."

"She's mentioned hearing odd voices" Sousuke volunteered. The women jumped: He had been sitting so silently, they had forgotten he was in the room.

"Why didn't you mention it earlier?" asked Rin querulously.

"It was in my report, but I didn't draw any extra attention to it because I didn't know if it was significant, not being a magus."

Tessa looked at Megumi, "Did Chidori mention anything like this to you?" she asked.

"No, but she wasn't the sort to complain about anything. She always tried to present an upbeat persona."

Tessa cast a speculative glance at Sousuke, who was doing an unusually poor job of hiding his tension. _'Speaking of people who don't complain...' _ "Megumi, please escort Sgt. Sagara to his quarters and see that he gets some rest." The younger Magus had mostly been quiet during the previous discussions, but this was something she was more familiar with.

"I would like to stay, Ma'am" Sousuke snapped to attention.

"I know, but it will be hours before we know anything. We will call you before we do anything. In the meantime, eat something and get some rest. Megumi can cast a relaxation spell if you need it."

As they exited the med bay. Sakura turned to Rin, "He reminds me a lot of Shirou"

"Not surprising, given that he's Shirou's' protege"

"An apprentice Hero of Justice?"

The two shared a smile before turning back to work.

An hour later, they were no closer to a solution. "I can't find the connection!" snarled Rin. Even with her talent and raw power, Kaname's affliction was escaping her.

"Maybe we are about this the wrong way" mused Tessa. "Let's get a heading off of the direction that her prana is being pulled. Maybe if we go to the source, we can deal with the problem there."

The other two Magi's faces lit up,

"Brilliant"

"That's the sort of solution Shirou would come up with - simple and relying on brute force" Rin smiled. "I'll start getting a heading while you tell him of our plan"

As Sakura and Tessa walked towards Shirou's quarters, Sakura asked gently, "So, are you and Shirou an 'item'?"

Tessa glanced at the matronly-looking woman, and blushed slightly "I wish. But he's completely oblivious. I don't know if he's still carrying a torch for Rin, or if he's really that clueless." She sighed forlornly.

"He's really that clueless" replied Sakura with a smile, "He's a great man, but he's really dense when it comes to women. In high school, he was athletic as well as kind and helpful. He could could have had pretty much any girl in the school, but he never even realized it. You're going to have to make the first move, with him."

"How do you know Shirou?" Tessa asked, puzzled that this middle aged woman spoke so familiarly of her crush.

Sakura smirked evilly, "I'm Rin's younger sister. We went to high school with him."

"Oh" Tessa's eyes went wide, as she quickly tried to recall if she had made any rude comments about Rin in this woman's presence. "Umm" Tessa decided that asking about the other woman's appearance would be extremely tactless "I'm not so good at taking the initiative."

"Neither was I" replied Sakura cryptically as she knocked on the commander's door.

*KoM*KoM*

The Tuatha de Danaan glided smoothly through the odd layers just under reality as it prepared to surface, "Urzu 7, Urzu 2, launch for recon. Kurz, you're on backup" Shirou commanded.

The Submarine surfaced in a barren moor. In the distance a dilapidated mansion was visible. Shirou had agreed to Tessa's plan, and the trail from Chidori lead to this uninhabited stretch of land on the coast of Scotland. Shirou half expected to see a giant black dog running around, like in the Sherlock Holmes story.

"Urzu 7 is go"

"Urzu 2 is go"

"Urzu 6 is go"

"Watch for Bounded Fields. This could be a magus' base" Shirou called out needlessly. He still wasn't very good at commanding from the rear.

The three figures, clad in third generation arm slaves, spread out. Sousuke (Urzu 7) and Melissa Mao (Urzu 2) started towards the mansion, leap frogging each other while the other provided cover. Kurz on the other hand set up on a small rise and watched through his telescopic sight.

For several minutes, nothing happened, then Sgt. Mao called out "Urzu 7 - hold. I have a Bounded Field"

"Urzu 6, take it down" replied Shirou

"Got it" Kurz loaded a special round into his rifle as Melissa Mao put some distance between her and the bounded field.

crack!

BOOM!

The spot where Kurz's bullet hit flared into a ball of white light.

"Field is down!" Sousuke rushed in, with Melissa close behind. There was the sound of gunfire, then silence.

Several minutes later, Sgt. Mao reported in, "There was one guardian golem, but otherwise this place is empty. There is an active spell in the main dining room"

Shirou turned to the others in the command room, "Let's go take a look. Captain, bring us up!"

When the Danaan broke into reality, Shirou, Rin and a team of Mithril soldiers quickly disembarked.

"This place is weirdly empty. I would have expected more defenses," Shirou commented as they walked into the mansion. The building had obviously been neglected. It smelled of wet rot, and some of the floorboards were soft.

Most of the rooms were dark, and disappointingly mundane.

The dining room was something else, though. The two Mithril Arm slaves stood guard at the entrance. Inside, a ten foot tall vertical rift pulsed with a purple light. On the floor around it were arranged a variety of items - bronze statues of animals, a pair of books and even an old lantern. A magical circle was inscribed around the whole array, with five candles burning with a dim flame. The candles cast sharp shadows, but gave off no light of their own.

"This looks like the MO of the cults that we have been seeing." commented Shirou.

"Yeah, except I think this is the source. Get Tessa over here, I could use a second set of eyes." Rin commented distractedly as she began to study the magical apparatus in front of her

Shirou smiled at her off-handed bossiness. "Tessa, did you catch that?"

"Yes, sir. I'll be there in a couple."

*KoM*KoM*

"Do you think that the somebody stole some of this guy's equipment and and sold it to the cults?" asked Shirou. Tessa and Rin had spent the last hour analyzing the dimensional rift.

"No, more likely he handed them out himself," replied Tessa. "This is an extremely large rift, and I am not certain where it goes to, but it's deep. I think he was intentionally weakening the fabric of reality, so that it would be easier for him to cast this spell."

Rin nodded grimly, "This is bad. Really bad. If this psycho keeps on with this, he could rip apart the boundaries of reality. Things from other realities could spill in. Or worse."

"What exactly do you mean 'or worse'?" asked Shirou.

"Imagine our reality having a head on collision with some other reality. We are talking global catastrophe. An extinction level event."

"Can we follow his through the portal?"

"Yeah, but I am not certain what's beyond it - we could end up stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no way to get out." Rin sighed, "I need to know if we can breath there, and if there is something to walk on."

Shirou smiled and shook his head. "We can do better than that. Tessa, can the Tuatha De Danaan get through that portal?"

The silver haired magus thought for a moment before replying, "Yes. We'll have to line her up very carefully, but I think the enchantments on the Danaan's hull will let her slip through the rift without snagging or tearing it."

"Ok, let's do it"

It was several hours later that one of the oddest sight on Earth (or any other reality) happened: the nose of a huge submersible materialized in the dining room of the mansion, just a few feet from the rift, before plunging into the purple gap. The rest of the submarine followed, but only a few feet of it's length was ever in Earth's reality at a time, as it swept from one otherworldly opening into another.

Unfortunately, there was nobody present to see it.

*KoM*KoM*

The sub shook gently. Again. Rin swore as she lunged to keep the book she had left on her night table from slipping to the floor.

"More turbulence" sighed Sakura. They were sharing a room on the Tuatha de Danaan as it traversed the rift between worlds. They had been traveling for three days now. "Relax. There's nothing you can do until we get there."

"I know," replied Rin. "That's what I find so galling. I hate sitting here, powerless. I want to be able to help Shirou." she flopped back onto the bed. "I bet that Tessa is helping Shirou.

Sakura rolled her eyes_ 'she's so immature. she's acting like a teenager'_ "Rin, I talked to Tessa - there is nothing going on between her and Shirou." Rin just gave a not very lady like snort, "Rin, you have been expecting a re-incarnation of Arturia. But what if it's you?"

Rin sat up in surprise

"Seriously - what if you are Arturia? Have you considered that the woman that, according to you, Shirou is destined to love is you?"

"I am nothing like Arturia - she was self sacrificing, and reserved and noble"

"But you gave up your quest for Akasha to destroy the corrupted Grail, and here you are again, on a quest to heal a woman you barely know" _'let's not mention the common denominator in both of these quests - Shirou'_, "And you ARE from a noble family, and act in a very refined fashion," _'with strangers'_, and you're also very petite" '_at least that part's true'_

"Hmm. Rin sat thoughtfully, before a predatory smile slowly spread across her face.

*KoM*KoM*

There was a knock on Rin's door. The Tuatha de Danaan had been traveling through this un-reality now for almost a week. Nobody was certain how fast they were traveling, or how much further they had to go. For all they knew, they could have gone the equivalent of 10 feet forwards. But they WERE making forward progress. But the inside of the sub was starting to behave oddly. People glimpsed sights and smells that didn't belong. Some of them were very disturbing, such as when the saw the smells.

"Come in." Rin straightened her blouse to make herself more presentable. Image was everything, after all.

"Hi, I hope I'm not coming at a bad time" Shirou entered the tiny room.

Rin rolled her eyes "As if I have anything to do here. I might as well be in prison."

"I'm sorry!" Shirou immediately apologized, "I know this wasn't what you were expecting when you volunteered to help out, but"

"Oh, stop" Rin replied, "I was just teasing you." there was an awkward silence, as neither magus knew how to act around the other anymore, "Seriously – I wanted to help, so I am going to help, no matter how long it takes." _'Especially after how I ditched you in China'_ Rin was still feeling guilty about that.

"Oh, ok" Shirou sighed, "Anyway I came in to ask if you could help Tessa reinforce the bindings on the Danaan. It was never designed to travel this far into unreality, and I am getting a little anxious.

Rin smiled, "You always did leap in before you know how dangerous the situation is."

Shirou smiled back, "What can I say? People needed rescuing." It was an old argument, one that neither one of them expected to win.

"What you can say is that you will take better care of yourself." Rin stood up and took one of her trademark poses, finger wagging, "I've seen how you are when you are on one of your crusades. You forget to get enough sleep. You know that will lead to mistakes. And you can't afford those."

Now it was Shirou's turn to roll his eyes, "Yes, mother."

Rin blushed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lecture. So where is Tessa's workshop?" she changed the topic.

"Here, I'll show you." Shirou opened the door for Rin.

"Thank you" She smiled as she passed him. "And afterwards, how about we get a cup of coffee and chat?"

Shirou nodded, "I would like that". They walked companionably as strange colors danced at the corners of their vision.

*KoM*KoM*

"Where are we?" asked Shirou. The Tuatha de Danaan had traveled deep enough into the odd trans-dimensional space that clocks no longer stayed in sync. One clock might say that only an hour had passed, while another claimed three. Computers crashed and had to be rebooted on a regular basis, but so far nothing had actually stopped working.

"I don't know" replied Tessa. She was sitting at a chart table off to the side of the bridge, "this is much further from our reality than we have ever gone before."

"Can the Danaan take it?' Asked Shirou. He was concerned about the vast weight of unreality pressing down on the runes and wards embedded in hull of the sub. Already colors were starting to acquire a flavor, and textures had a smell.

"I think so. She's a strong machine, like the people inside her" Tessa smiled proudly at the sub, as if it were something alive. When an object was sufficiently enchanted, it sometimes became hard to tell.

"We are still following the passageway from the rift. I don't know how much..." she was interrupted by the surfacing klaxon.

"We are breaking through into Reality!" came the voice of the captain. The sub shook, and then stopped.

Shirou raced to the front of the bridge, "let's see what's out there"

The front monitor screen lit up with something out of a nightmare: a beautiful sylvan scene was overrun with giant grubs that were eating their way through the forest.

As the view panned across, there came into sight an island of resistance - a group of people in medieval armor were fighting, pushing back the grubs, some of which were ten feet long or more.

Shirou quickly reached a decision. He switched on the microphone "All Mithril forces, prepare to sortie. It's going to be a bug hunt."

*KoM*KoM*

Shortly, as Shirou was overseeing the soldiers forming up into squads in the exit bay, a furious Rin stormed in "Are you crazy?" Rin snapped, "You don't even know who's fighting who!"

Shirou gave her a boyish smile, "It's pretty obvious that the bugs don't belong here. They are destroying the place."

"And just like that you're going to rush out to the rescue?"

"Yup"

Tessa put a calming hand on Rin's shoulder, "It's the way Shirou is. And he is right: the grub creatures are foreign to this reality." '_and if you wanted to have a say in his life, why did you leave him?'_ Tessa didn't say that last part, as it would have been very forward, but it nonetheless puzzled her, as Rin obviously still cared for Shirou.

"Yes, but one of these days he's going to get himself killed fighting something that's not his fight!" Rin sighed in exasperation, her facade of aloofness forgotten.

"Rin, none of the conflicts that Mithril gets involved in are 'our fights'" The normally soft spoken woman had steel in her voice as she spoke, "But we make them our fights, because we see injustice being done."

"You guys are as insane as he is," Rin sighed, "how do you decide who's right and who's wrong?"

"In this case, it's pretty easy, given that this magus doesn't seem to care if he brings about the end of the world. But in general, you're right. That's why we usually stay out of conflicts between humans. But true evil does exist. Dead Apostles, mind controlled cults, extra-dimensional beings. You know this." Tessa's tone softened as she spoke.

"Yeah, I do. I'm just worried."

"Well, the best thing for that is to keep busy. Come with me - I am heading down to the torpedo bay to prepare something for the bugs. I could use a hand."

*KoM*KoM*

"Urzu squad, on my left flank, Tiwaz, take the right. We'll split them down the middle!" Shirou charged out, his Arm Slave giving him superhuman speed, so that he could save his prana for his projections. He had left Halgaz squad to protect the sub - it made sense not to underestimate an unknown enemy, especially in a situation like this, where they couldn't exactly walk home.

On both of Shirou's sides were squads of third generation Arm Slaves, with older models and plain soldiers providing support from inside the V formation.

Facing them was a sea of huge grub-like creature. Each one had grinding mandibles that could tear through steel, and their soft, bulbous bodies made finding their vulnerable points difficult.

As the soldiers advanced, the grubs stopped eating the forest and turned towards them, hissing. All of a sudden, a rain of swords fell, each one piercing a grub through it's tiny head. At the same time, Urzu and Tiwaz opened up with their semi-automatic rifles and miniguns.

This time, their bullets were plain steel, but they did the job, chewing through the creatures. The grubs hissed and charged at the soldiers, but sheets of paper floated up in front of them. Each sheet was palm sized, but they refused to budge. The grubs recoiled in confusion. Megumi called up more papers to prevent the grubs from circling around. Arthur and their several apprentices cast similar spells, slowing or stopping the grubs, making them into easy targets for the soldiers.

"Megumi - you ok back there?" asked Shirou.

"I'm fine. I'll call out if I need to cycle out."

Mithril advanced, step by step over the disgusting landscape, making their way towards the cluster of swordsmen holding back the grubs. They were obviously not just ordinary knights, as flashes of light and gusts of wind indicated high level magic.

The sea of insects appeared endless, but they were largely ineffectual against Mithril's trained soldiers.

*KoM*KoM*

Shirou wasn't certain how long they had been fighting, but they were most of the way to the knights. They were just ahead, on a small hill with some sort of stone blocks and huge oak trees. Shirou was now close enough to see that there were a half dozen knights, with a cluster of women behind them casting spells. The armor that most of the knights were wearing was oddly delicate looking, like it was made out of lace, but it was strong enough to stop a blow from the monsters. At the head of warriors was one knight clad in traditional looking plate armor, wielding a blazing sword that crushed anything it struck.

_'That's... Excalibur?'_ Shirou watched in amazement. He quickly pulled himself out of his daze, "How's the ammo holding up?" he asked

"Pretty good" "I still have half a case" came the replies (all of the soldiers had been issued a non-euclidian box, which was bigger on the inside than on the outside, for holding their supplies)

"Megumi - how are the Magi doing.?"

"We're still good. I think we can keep going for a couple more hours before we start making mistakes."

"Good. Let's try to link up with the defenders on the hill."

Fighting the grubs was hard work, but they were almost mindless, so the same strategy worked on them over and over - the magi kept them from getting close enough to bite, and soldiers blew them apart. The only exception was Shirou, who had stepped outside of the magi's protective envelope and was slashing his way though with Kusanagi. The grubs instinctively flinched away from the flaming broadsword as Shirou advanced through them.

Mithril battled their way to the edge of the hill, throwing the grubs facing the knights into confusion. The lead knight took the opportunity to attack, and with a roar, launching a shockwave of force from Excalibur, shattering grubs by the dozens.

"We're here to help!" yelled Shirou to the knight before turning to his men, "We will come in on their left side - Tiwaz, switch to melee weapons so that you don't catch the defenders with a stray bullet." At Shirou's' commands, the soldiers to his right pulled out swords and started to cut into the grubs. The advance slowed, even with Shirou helping. Urzu squad, on the left kept up the gunfire, holding back the grubs.

The two forces were almost linked up when the leader of the defenders called out "Foreign Knights, to me". It was a female voice.

_'That couldn't be..'_ Shirou's eyes opened wide in recognition. He was distracted enough that a grub knocked under his sword arm, pushing Kusanagi aside. Shirou had to scramble back, but another grub brushed against him, knocking him off balance. As he staggered, trying to regain his footing, the first grub lunged forward, intending to take a bite out of him. The grub was inches away when an armored figure slammed into its side, sword first, shearing it in two.

"Shirou?" asked the knight as she extended her hand to help the Faker stand back up, "Well, now we are even."

"Arturia?" Shirou staggered up


	7. Chapter 7

Shirou staggered up, looking at the armored form of Saber, Arturia Pendragon. "How.. but you died..." His voice trailed away.

"We'll talk later. Right now we need to drive these things back. If they get to the sacred grove, all of Avalon could come undone." Arturia took a fighting stance and sent out a slash of power from excalibur, blasting a dozen grubs, and forces dozens more back.

Shirou nodded and tapped his communications rune, "Tessa, have you finished the modification?"

"Yes we have three torpedoes," came the tinny voice, "and I have a target as well - it looks like the grubs are spreading out from a location about a mile to the east of you. I will have the Tuatha De Danaan surface near your location and fire along that vector."

"Careful of the grubs - they are more dangerous than they look."

"I got this" interrupted Rin, sounding exasperated, as if Shirou had questioned her competence. "Just hold out for a few minutes more"

"Ok, good" Shirou smiled fondly. He turned to his men and Arturia and the... elves? That was another topic for later. "Ok, people, we hold here while the Tuatha de Danaan maneuvers into position. Once it fires, we advance due east. that's the source of the attack, and we should find our magus there."

With both forces fighting together, holding the grubs became a simple matter, the only danger was fatigue - the defenders were starting to tire, but the tide of grubs had no end in sight. If the Danaan was not able to drive the monsters back soon, the warriors would start making mistakes, and casualties would start piling up.

Shirou fought his way forwards, so he was fighting side by side with Arturia. She gave him a quick smile. Their fighting styles meshed as well as they always had.

Then something happened, "ahh!" One of the magi had miscast, and a grub charged through, grabbing Urzu 2 by the arm. Urzu 7 blasted it apart, and then slashed off the monster's mandibles with his machete, but the damage was done - As the defender's line buckled, the grubs pressed in, and it was all that the defenders could do to keep them from overwhelming them.

All of a sudden, the grubs gave a squealing noise, and fled from a football field sized patch at the base of the hill - a Bounded Field had materialized, forcing them back. As they fled, the Tuatha de Danaan surfaced.

"Ready to fire, sir"

"Fire two torpedoes"

"Torpedo 1 away"

There was was a burst of smoke from the bow of the Danaan, and then a ripple along the ground as a barely visible lozenge rippled through space, heading away from the submarine.

"Torpedo 2 away"

A second lozenge shot forth. Both were just barely in this world, flitting through unreality. Each one had a bounded field tied to it that disrupted certain spells.

As the torpedoes flew towards their target, grubs in a 100 yard wide swath around each one just winked out as if they never were.

"Let's go, people! We don't have much time!" The Mithril soldiers wheeled and started to jog down the hill. Arturia joined them moments later.

"Aren't your elvish friends going to come as well?" asked Shirou

"No, they can't leave the Sacred Grove."

After that, there was no more talking, as everybody saved their breath for running.

The grubs off to the side, which had escaped the banishing torpedoes, started to move towards the emptied space.

"You're almost there, sir, another couple hundred yards," announced Tessa.

The grubs had all turned and were zeroing in on the humans much more aggressively. They no longer appeared to be mindless eating machines.

Urzu and Tiwaz squads were spraying automatic weapon fire in all directions as Shirou and Arturia cut their way forwards.

All of a sudden, a spray of stinging insects spat from the east, attacking any exposed flesh. The Mithril attack faltered.

"Megumi, hold them back, Arthur, set up a bounded field to dispel them, reach it forwards towards our target"

"Got it!"

The magi started their Arias. A few minutes later, the stinging insects were gone, but several Mithril soldiers were down.

"Arthur, hold here with all support staff. From here on, it's only Arm Slaves" Shirou commanded, He concentrated and flared his magic circuits, sending a rain of swords down along their path, to soften up the enemy.

Sousuke took the lead, blasting his way forwards with his minigun. Moments later, the other Arm Slaves, as well as Arturia continued the attack. It was a good thing that the Arm Slaves did a good job of protecting their wearers from the stinging insects, because they were hit with swarms of them twice more as they forced their way forwards.

Finally, they made their way to a clearing. At the edge were the two torpedos, permanently fused with the rock as something had made their Zelretch drives fail. In the middle of the clearing, standing under a lone oak tree was a decrepit old man. As Mithril burst into the open space, the grubs stopped their attack.

"Heh. Why am I not surprised that it is you." The man's voice was low and gravely, as if his throat was filled with mucous. Despite being very soft, it was clearly audible. "you always were a thorn in my side."

"Shirou, that's Zouken!" came the frantic voice of Sakura over the communications channel.

Shirou nodded, He knew what that monster had done to Sakura, "Hit him hard!" he yelled.

The Mithril troops sprayed the old man with automatic weapon fire at the same time as the Arturia and Shirou sent ground rending blasts of force from their Excaliburs.

When the dust cleared, there was nothing left.

Shirou walked over to inspect the ravaged ground. There was no sign of Zouken. "Do you think we got him, he asked over his communicator.

"NO!" responded Sakura vehemently. "His body is made of crestworms. He can disincorporate!"

Shirou bent examine the ground. Indeed, there were dozens of little worms burrowing into the ground, and there were signs that many more had already done so.

Shirou leaped back twenty feet, "I needed a bounded field to keep those crestworms in!" He yelled to the exhausted magi. "Tiwaz, hit the target area with grenades, maybe we can cook a few of the worms. Urzu, keep watch for the giant grubs"

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

The explosions continued for several minutes. Finally, there was silence.

"We have a bounded field up", reported Megumi, "But I don't know how many of the crestworms we caught - I think we were too slow."

Arthur recited an aria, "They're gone - I don't know how fast that Zouken guy can pull himself back together, but at least for the moment, the threat is gone."

"Ok," sighed Shirou, "Stand down. Let's regroup back at the hill, at the standing stones."

As the group of tired soldiers walked back, carrying their injured, Shirou turned to Arturia, "So... All this... You said you would explain."

Arturia walked slowly. She looked even more tired than the Mithril soldiers, but unlike last time Shirou had come to her aid, at Camlann, her expression was relaxed. She appeared content. "We are in the land of Avalon, the place that my sheath distilled and embodied. And here I wait, until those times that England's need is most dire, and then I come to the aid of all that is true and good." She smiled, and somehow the trite phrases sounded convincing and powerful, coming out of her mouth. "I am a Counter Guardian, Shirou"

"What? but Archer.. I don't know if you remember him" Shirou started.

"Yes, I remember him. After I died, I remembered everything, both the Grail wars and my time in Camelot with you." Arturia took Shirou's hand for a moment and gave it a squeeze. "Archer's problem was that he was not a king. He was not even a knight. He saw himself as nothing more than a sword. In his own mind, he was just a tool, and so that is how Alia used him. I am a king, and I will defend my people to the death and even past death, but I WILL be treated properly."

By this point the returning soldiers had reached the camp that Tessa and Halgaz squad were setting up at the base of the hill. The wounded were quickly triaged and brought inside the sub, while the others slumped down on folding chairs and grabbed some water.

Tessa watched with her arms crossed as Shirou and Arturia stood talking, oblivious to their surroundings. She leaned over to Rin, who stood next to her in an almost identical pose, with an identical frown, "Who is that?"

"That" replied Rin with a scowl, "Is Arturia Pendragon, Shirou's Once and Future girlfriend." When Tessa turned to her in confusion , she added, "History remembers her as King Arthur. Shirou fell for her when he was a teenager, and it was only a matter of time before they got back together again. That's why it's pointless being in love with him."

"But King Arthur died a long time ago" replied Tessa, puzzled

"Does she look dead to you?" Rin nodded towards Arturia, who was talking intimately with Shirou.

Before Tessa could say anything, Shirou walked over, "Just the women I was looking for" He smiled, Tessa instinctively straightened up and brightened "Do you have any way of finding where Zouken is?"

"Not magically, but I can send up a drone to take a look around" Tessa replied, "And Megumi can create some paper swans that can help look"

Rin rolled her eyes at how cheerful Tessa sounded, just because Shirou was paying attention to her.

"Ok, that's a plan" Shirou turned to Rin, "Thank you for your help. I know all this was rather unexpected, but your help with those bounded field torpedos was brilliant"

Rin's face lit up at the compliment.

"Shirou" Megumi walked up to the the group, "I don't want to interrupt, but we have a time limit - Sakura says that Kaname's ensorcellment is linked to this gate spell, and we won't be able to break it until we close the gate. So we need to finish up here and head home, because the longer she is like this, the greater the risk of long term damage to her.

*KoM*KoM*

"The drone found a blackened pit, with broken trees along its edges several miles to the east. It's about halfway to the edge of this pocket reality." Tessa began the briefing. All of the senior Mithril officers were seated outside, on the hill. With them sat Arturia and an elegant, ageless elf woman, whom Arturia had introduced as 'Her Highness Evienne, Queen of Avalon and Lady of the Lake'.

"My birds confirmed the presence of magic like that which we saw from the worm mage." Megumi added. A warm breeze blew across the hill, stirring the ancient oaks that shaded them.

"What does Zouken hope to accomplish?" Asked Shirou, turning to Sakura, "Any ideas?"

The middle aged looking woman nodded, "His goal is immortality. He's ancient, and he has fought so long just to stay alive, that he has forgotten everything else. All that is left is his need to live on. He must believe that he can attain that by conquering Avalon"

"And in that he is right, but also wrong" replied the queen, "If he becomes the lord of Avalon, he will indeed live forever, but he will never be able to leave Avalon, not for more than a few hours in every century." her voice was musical and pleasant, but lacking in warmth. To Shirou, it sounded like glass.

"Maybe he is crazy enough not to care, or maybe he's crazy enough to think that he can overcome that limit. All that matters is that we have to stop him" replied Shirou.

"In that case, we should attack before he can recover his strength" added Sousuke, "though I don't like the idea of attacking what is probably a hardened instillation."

Shirou nodded, "We will do what we have to do. I will lead a small party to scout out Zouken's lair. Rin, can you infuse prana into some of the bullets for the Arm Slave's mini guns?"

Rin nodded, and then then said something no magus ever considered "yes, but I will need some gem material, and an assistant would be useful". She volunteered to share her magical techniques, solely for the greater good.

"I will have Arthur help - he has some basic knowledge of how to infuse gems," Tessa replied, "And the machinist on the Danaan is trained in working with materials that will be used for enchantment"

"I can provide you with as many gems as you require" the Lady Evienne added.

Sakura leaned over to Megumi and asked "How does Arthur know about gem magic - it's a rare field"

Megumi, who had quickly formed a friendship the soft spoken Japanese magus, replied "He dated Luvia for a while. They got pretty serious, before her family found out."

Sakura nodded her understanding. As a first generation Magus, there was no way that Arthur would have been an acceptable husband for Luvia in the eyes of the Edelfelt patriarch.

"Great" Shirou stood up, "That case, let's head out!"

*KoM*KoM*

"Tiwaz 3, cover me" Shirou ordered quietly as he stepped off the edge of the pit. As he dropped, his grip tightened on the rappelling line in his hand and his decent slowed. The Arm Slave kept his hands from being torn to shreds as Shirou lowered himself the 50 feet down into the pit.

"Clear" Shirou Traced a bow and took up a guard position as three other figures rappelled down after him. Once the whole team was down, they split into twos, one pair covering as the other pair carefully advanced, searching the perimeter of the pit.

The pit was over a hundred yards wide. The bottom was strewn with rubble, but it was not clear what had happened to the majority of the dirt - it was just gone.

THUP

"Watch out - there are some grubs here!" Shirou called out as he fitted a second arrow to his bow.

The roar of automatic weapon fire was deafening, but it was over in a matter of minutes.

"I think that's all there is," called out Sousuke. "I don't see anything else here."

"Nothing dangerous, at least," corrected Shirou, "But the earth is covered in little holes", to emphasize, he pressed on a chunk of granite that projected from the side of the pit. It cracked under his hand, exposing hundreds of holes - they looked like worm tracks.

"It looks like Zouken has sent his worms to eating underground now, but why?" Sousuke prodded at a worm trail, puzzled.

Arturia looked worried, "I.. have an idea, but I need to confirm it with Sakura and Lady Evienne"

On the return trip, Shirou had become more and more anxious, but Arturia had refused to explain her theory until she had a chance to check it with experts, _'is that what I'm like when I'm in charge?'_ he wondered bemusedly.

*KoM*KoM*

"I think Zouken is trying to eat Avalon" stated Arturia without any preamble. The Mithril soldiers and others were all seated in the small building as the base of the hill that served as living quarters for the elves and Arturia.

"Uhm, excuse me?" asked Sgt. Mao, "How is that even possible? And more importantly, why?"

"It is possible because Avalon is a very small realm, and as to why, our best guess is that the worm mage is hoping to gain the healing and life prolonging qualities of Avalon." The Lady of the lake's voice was painfully beautiful.

"But.. but how will he fit it in his stomach?" asked Kurz.

"Don't worry about the how. We need to concentrate on how to stop him" Megumi interrupted.

"I think I'm out of my depth" the other soldiers nodded their agreement with Kurz.

"We need to get Zouken to come out of hiding. Maybe if we challenged him, or insulted him somehow?" asked Shirou

Sakura snorted, "Shirou, he's not a child or a Heroic Spirit, to fall for something that simple. He's five HUNDRED years old. He has learned how to stay focused during that time."

"In that case, we need to find his hiding spot" Shirou turned to give an order to the drone pilots when Sakura interrupted.

"We know where he is." Shirou looked back at her, "The worms that are eating Avalon - those ARE Zouken, or all that's left of him."

"So... so how do we get them out?"

"Can we spray a poison in, something that will kill the worms?" asked Sousuke.

"If we had a couple of months, we might be able to come up with a bounded field that worked like a magical crest worm poison, but I don't think we have that long" replied Tessa.

"And Chidori definitely won't last that long, "added Megumi.

Shirou leaned back and thought furiously, "is there any way to pull the worm up the the surface? I know real worms come up when it rains. Maybe.." he stopped as Sakura shook her head no, "What if we flood the ground with prana, would that..." another head shake. "What if..." a smile spread on his face as an idea occurred to him, "what if we change the Laws of Reality?"

Rin's eyes got big, "You mean... over all of Avalon?! that would take a huge amount of prana! Shirou, you would kill yourself."

"What are we talking about?" asked Arthur

"I open up my Reality Marble and scoop all of the crestworms up into it."

"Absolutely NOT!" stated Rin emphatically, "You would burn yourself out."

"What's the alternative?" Shirou replied to her, before finishing his explanation, "Once inside, they can't tunnel through the ground unless I permit it."

Tessa appeared torn between worry for Shirou and the fact that it was their best bet. As the expert on Shirou's reality marble, she was pretty confident that it would work. If he had enough prana. Tessa turned tentatively to Rin, _'I can't believe I am proposing this. This is so wrong,'_ "Uhm, Rin-Sempai, aren't you knowledgeable in tantric prana transfer rituals?" She blushed furiously.

"What?! How did you know" Rin turned to glare at Shirou, "Shirou.." She growled.

"I, uhm, read your article in 'Modern Magus'" Tessa admitted.

"But... but.. that was under a pseudonym!" Rin was appalled.

"I was, uhm, a curious, so I did a little research," Tessa blushed furiously, "all theoretical, of course!"

Sousuke turned to Melissa Mao, "Do you have any idea what they are talking about?"

"Not a clue, but it sound like it must be fun" smirked the former Marine.

"Tantric magic involves sex" Explained Megumi, with a bemused smile on her face.

"All that is irrelevant - even if Shirou had.. performed the ritual with all of the Magi here, we still wouldn't have enough prana"

"If it will save Avalon, I will partake of the ritual with Shirou" Lady Evienne interrupted calmly. "I am the living embodiment of the land, and as such, I have the prana you require."

All of the others froze

"Shirou, come. My chambers are this way." The queen of Avalon stood, "Lady Tohsaka, please bring anything you require for the ritual" She led the way inside the small temple like building that served as living quarters for those dwelling in Avalon.

Rin looked between Shirou and the Lady of the Lake, appalled.

Shirou got up and hesitantly walked over to Rin and spoke softly, his face inches from hers, "I don't like this any more than you do. But it's the only way." He sounded like he was apologizing.

Rin looked at him for a long time, "I'll get my equipment. Just make sure you don't screw things up with Arturia."

Shirou looked puzzled as Rin walked off towards the Danaan.

*KoM*KoM*

All the rest of Mithril decided that it would be more polite to retire to the sub to rest up. Well, most everybody - Melissa Mao and a couple others had to be explicitly ordered out by Tessa.

Afterwards, nobody was quite certain if they had imagined the waves of color sweeping across the land, or if they had really happened, but the elegant little building now looked fractured, like the walls didn't quite fit together correctly any more

*KoM*KoM*

_'Why was Shirou so worried about me?'_ Rin kept getting distracted as she prepared for her next role in Shirou's plan. Her thoughts kept going back the tantric ritual. It had been a long time since she had had sex with anybody, so she was definitely an active participant. but it wasn't just that. It all felt wrong. Her role was supposed to be somewhat abstract, removed, but it had been too intimate. She wasn't certain what to feel. Should she apologize? And to whom? Shirou? Arturia? Lade Evienne?

"Everybody all set?" asked Shirou. His voice seemed to boom forth, and he had a bounce in his step.

"Wow, that must have been some pretty mind blowing sex" Kurz whispered to Mao.

She tried hard not to smirk.

"Let's begin"

Shirou took a ready stance in the center of the standing stones in the sacred grove at the top of the hill. The very center of Avalon.

He started reciting his Aria, pronouncing it slowly, the worlds rolling over the whole land

"I am the bone of my sword."

"Steel is my body, and fire is my blood."

"I've created over a thousand blades."

"Unaware of loss."

"Nor aware of gain"

"Withstood pain to create many weapons."

"With love's arrival"

"I have no regrets. This is the only path."

The world turned red

Shirou's internal world, the world of swords, with giant gears hanging low in the sky, pulled all the sentient creatures inside. But there was a difference - the ground was covered in piles of squirming worms, and the sky was lit by one of the gears, which gave off a sharp red light, casting long, distorted shadows from everything.

"Stomp 'em" yelled Sgt. Mao. Shirou's companions spread out, stomping and shooting the crestworms as they found them.

Sweat appeared on Shirou's brow as the crestworms tried to tunnel into the ground, but he he resisted. _'This is MY world, Zouken. and here, you follow MY rules'_

Soon all the humans were spread out over the landscape, most barely visible in the distance The only person who wasn't moving was Shirou, as he concentrated on keeping his reality marble intact as Zouken tried to worm his way into it, and into Shirou's soul.

It seemed like hours, but finally the assault on his self faded. Shirou looked up in time to see a swarm of worms pull together into a mass that moments later took on the appearance of an old man.

"Heh, heh" rasped the the old man, "that was very tricky of you, young Emya." The mage released a blast of insects. Shirou ducked, and a storm of swords rained down on Zouken. The old man walked through them. Even those that hit him passed through his body with little harm - the holes that the swords left in Zouken's body were lined with worms, which closed up to appear like human flesh a moment later.

Two giant grubs leaped out at Shirou, as he fended them off, he was hit in the face with a swarm of stinging insects.

Shirou rolled on the ground and staggered up. His excess prana was used up, and he was mentally exhausted from keeping the Reality Marble going.

Shirou summoned Ascalon, The sword that st. George used to slay the wyrm, and lunged in. Shirou's leap covered the thirty feet words his target in an instance, and he slashed down, only to find that Zouken had broken apart into his constituent worms, which covered Shirou's body, biting and trying to burrow into him.

Shirou rolled on the ground, struggling futilely until Arthur ran up, chanting an Aria. The worms sloughed off of Shirou and reformed into the old man, who grimaced evilly as Shirou lay panting on the ground.

"You are no match for me boy" He turned to Arthur and made a quick gesture. Worms erupted from the other Magus' mouth. Arthur struggled to get out a counterspell.

"I do not like conflict. Return us to Avalon, and I will let you depart peacefully." Zouken smiled at Shirou. "I have no interest in you."

"And what about me, grandfather?" Sakura asked as she placed herself between Shirou and Zouken, "Do you have any interest in me?"

"Of course not, not since you expelled my heritage from your body." Zouken dismissed his former tool.

"That is all I ever was to you. Just a means to an end. You never cared for me as a human being. I grew up in your house, but you never gave me a moments affection" Sakura advanced on the old man.

Zouken quirked an eyebrow in bemusement, "Really? After all this time, you feel the need to vent your spleen now?"

Sakura continued, ignoring what Zouken had said, to all appearances in her own world, "You threw me away after your Heavens Feel ritual failed, but I found people that love me. First Shirou, then others. I now have a boyfriend who loves me and want to keep me safe." She was now ten feet from the worm mage, and Zouken prepared a blast to dispose of the amusing little child, "His name is Gendo, Gendo Rokubungi, if you care."

SHUCK

Zouken glanced down at the source of the noise. A miniature sword was impaled into the ground by Sakura's foot. Right through his shadow.

'_Is that a Black Key?'_

"He's an Executor of the Church, and he gave me this to protect myself" Sakura stepped off to the side, and every step carried her a dozen yards further away, as Shirou's reality marble followed his commands.

Before Zouken could reach for the Black Key in puzzlement, he saw another figure taking space-warping steps towards him. It was Rin, and she was carrying a tube that was as big as she was.

A moment later it became clear she was wearing an Arm Slave, and the tube was a mingun, with a belt of ammunition that reached into a non-euclidian bag on her back.

Zouken released a stream of exploding insects at the approaching magus.

"Rho Aias" called out Shirou, coming to stand next to Rin. The glowing flower shield deflected the attack with ease.

"Hello, you monster" smiled Rin sweetly, "this is for what you did to my sister" She raised the minigun and stepped close to Shirou, thrusting it between two petals of the shield

Zouken eyes got really big as he tried to disincorporate, to fall apart into separate worms, but the Black Key kept him locked in his human form. He waved his hand and a wall of insects filled the air between him and Rin.

Rin took a moment to aim and squeezed the trigger. A hail of glowing red bullets – actually prana infused gem shards, sprayed out 3,000 rounds per minute. They smashed through the insect barrier in an explosive blast, before blowing into the ancient worm mage, incinerating and ripping pieces out of him. And not even the explosions could make him move, with the Black Key holding him down

Soon, there was nothing left of the worm mage except a few charred pieces.

*KoM*KoM*

The trip home was slow, as Tessa and Rin took turns pulling the rift closed behind the Tuatha Danaan. But the atmosphere on the sub was relaxed, since Kaname improved markedly as more and more of the spell was disassembled.

knock. knock

"Come in" Shirou looked up from his desk as Rin came into his office. "How are you doing?"

"I should be the one asking you. You took a huge risk with what you did. You're lucky that that amount of prana didn't burn you from the inside out."

"I am used to having Avalon's power inside me." replied Shirou with a smirk at having figured something out that Rin hadn't.

"Oh. Right" Rin berated herself for forgetting. She continued to stand in awkward silence.

"Is there anything else?" Shirou got up and walked over to Rin.

After a moment, she finally asked, "So, what did you work out with Arturia?"

"Work out?"

"About being with her."

"Rin, it was nice to see her again, to be able to say goodbye, but she's a Counter Guardian, and I," he gave a self deprecating smile " I am a Hero of Justice. Our paths are going in different directions. What we had .. was something. but it's been over for ten years now."

Rin looked puzzled, like the words made no sense

A light dawned on Shirou. "Did you think I would start a relationship with you if I was still pining for Arturia? Do you take me for some kind of jerk?" Shirou absent mindedly put a hand on Rin's shoulder for emphasis.

Rin opened her mouth and closed it as her brain processed what Shirou had said (and just how close he was standing). Finally, she almost whispered, "Shirou? I would like to join Mithril."

Now it was Shirou's turn to be surprised, "Great, but why the change of heart?"

"Because I want to spend my life with you."

THE BEGINNING


End file.
